


I Don’t Like Rebornica’s Vincent But Please Read This Fanfic I Have Goldfish To Feed (DISCONTINUED)

by toastybagel-archive (ToastyBagel)



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Archived, F/M, M/M, Multi, discontinued, i just don’t wanna take it off ao3 entirely bc some ppl liked it, that’s why i took the tags off, this entire au was abandoned and remade oopsie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:07:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24014110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToastyBagel/pseuds/toastybagel-archive
Summary: (so uhhhhh yeah i stopped working on this one a while ago and i’m rewriting it but for now this incarnation of the story is discontinued for good)y/n, a protagonist from a Phone Guy x Reader, walks into a pg x pg fanfic, and the vibes are not good.This is, in fact, a full lit fanfic. While it does have its jokes and references, most of the story has a more serious tone, touching on topics such as abuse, anxiety, and depression to name a few.(Btw this is my au in which William Afton and Rebornica’s Vincent are two different characters.)Yes this is my stupid quarantine fic pls be nice to it, don’t hurt its feelings 👉👈
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17





	1. April

**Author's Note:**

> This book does, in fact, contain strong themes of abuse in toxic relationships. It also contains descriptions of injuries, weapons, and a whole lot of character deaths.
> 
> In addition, the story is told from Phone Guy’s perspective all the way through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UPDATE 5/30/2020: yaaaay! i finally edited this garbage pile of an opening chapter! i might edit it again bc i feel the voice of the narration is still a bit inconsistent but for now i’m pretty happy with it! thank u so much for the hits and kudos!

It was odd, really. Getting out of bed used to be a chore, but now it's 9:00 am and I still have three hours until I need to leave for work. It wouldn’t be worth it to try to fall asleep again. 

I hear the faint buzz of a lawnmower, drowning out the previous noise: my neighbor’s irritating, obnoxious children. I couldn’t tell for sure, though. The trees surrounding my house have only gotten bigger, blocking most of the outside world from my windows.

I still haven’t gotten used to this house, even after ten years of living here. God, has it really been ten years? It seemed like yesterday I was still getting by in my shitty apartment on the wrong side of town.

After an hour of scrolling through TikTok, I got up for a warm shower and a cup of coffee. I pulled on my shirt and dress pants, pinning my name tag to the white fabric. While combing my hair, I couldn’t help but occasionally glance down at the piece of plastic pinned on my chest.

I sometimes wonder how I even became the manager in the first place. I guess Vincent just didn't want it. He’s even related to William Afton, the head of the entire company. Whatever brought William to promote me instead of his own son and nephew is beyond me, but I guess I won’t complain.

After I gave up on my hair, I stepped into the long, darkened hallway.

Every room in this house is eerily quiet. With what I know about the history of this place, which is nothing, I'm convinced it's haunted. On the bright side, I have an interview today. Maybe they'll be who I've been searching for all these years. 

I start my car.

Probably not.

* * * * * * * * * *

12:50 pm, and I've already arrived. The front of the parking lot is nearly full, but the back is completely empty. I park in the same spot I’ve parked in since I was hired and step onto the pavement, locking my car. 

Here we go again. 

I push open the glass doors.

As soon as I cross the threshold, I instantly hear the blaring children’s music as a very energetic kid runs into my leg, trips, falls, apologizes, “Sorry, mister!”, then runs off. I don't know why I'm not good with kids, especially with how long I’ve been employed here, but I guess I just can’t understand them.

I walk into my office and see that, as usual, Vincent is laying across the sofa while using the phone from my desk to talk to…someone. 

“Hey.” I interrupted. I don't feel bad for interrupting, though. He should be working, anyway.

“He-” He looked up at me, then abruptly stopped speaking. There was a moment of silence before he ended his call with a “Talk to you later, love.” and set the phone back on the receiver. He sat up and stared at me.

“Love? Who’s that?” I asked, curiously. We did just recently get back together after spending some time apart, but I’ve never been able to shake the fact that he’s still cheating despite promising he would stop. Now, of course, I know my instincts were right.

“Ohhh, just someone I've been seeing on the side.” His voice was so smooth and casual. “But you don’t mind, right? Because, you know, if you're not okay with that, I'll dump her on the spot.” At the end of that last sentence, he smirked. I'm not sure how to feel. What if I were this girl? Would I rather stay with a guy who considers me as his side chick? Or would I find someone who really cared about me? He doesn't deserve her.

“Uhh…” Will I hurt his feelings? Will he think I'm just jealous? I love him, I really do, but he has commitment issues. “I think it would be best if you-”

There was suddenly a knock at the office door. I always dread opening this door, as it's usually either Vincent coming to take a drink from my mini-fridge or some high school journalist asking about the “murders.” You know, I checked our records. I talked to the police officers on the case. There's no proof that a kidnapping and killing took place here. It can't be denied that six children died in this restaurant a few years ago, but it cannot be proven as a murder.

What am I saying? It was obviously a murder. I was one of the suspects until I found the security footage from that day. Vincent, however, still hasn’t been proven completely innocent. I know it couldn’t have been him, though. He may have violent tendencies, but he would never purposely kill.

I cautiously open the door to find a woman about my age standing on the other side. Her outfit was clean and sophisticated, her hair away from her face and her makeup plain. She almost reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t think of whom.

“Hello! I'm, uhh, here for an interview?” She spoke calmly, but with a full tone to her voice. Definitely a good candidate.

“Oh, so you’re y/n?” I asked. You know, just to make sure. She definitely looked like a y/n to me, though.

“Yes, I am.”

“Okay-” I remembered that Vincent was still in my office. “Can you please wait a second? It won't be long at all-” Before she could reply, I closed the door and turned around.

“Hey, Vincent, you can't be here right now. I have that interview I was talking about and-” Before I could finish, he stood up and replied,

“Yeah. Sure.” He said completely straight and emotionless, as if he was talking to a stranger. He unlocked the lower panel of the window and slid it up, effortlessly slinking through the small space provided. Before running back to the front of the building, however, he propped his elbow on the windowsill. “See you after work, lovely. Same place?” He was speaking normally again. We’ve been meeting up at the same cafe in the city every few days to catch up and keep a healthy relationship. I used to spend a lot of time downtown, but Vincent really helped me get out of some bad habits, even if he could be really harsh at times.

"Yes, definitely. Just get back to work."

"Mhm, ok~" With that, he was out of sight. I decided to leave the window open. It was nice outside, anyway. I opened the door to see y/n peering behind the stage curtain before she noticed I was in the doorway and turned toward me.

"Hey, y/n, sorry for the wait. Please take a seat." I stepped aside, inviting her into the office.

"Oh, no, it's perfectly fine! Thank you!" She smiled and found a place on one of the chairs inside.

"So why did you apply for a job here?" I asked, as this question is usually a good opener and I often get the same answer about needing money and being new in town or, occasionally, wanting to work with children professionally in the future. She’ll most likely sugarcoat it, anyway.

"Oh, well, I moved into town recently and can't really find a job in my profession, and I have a friend who works here, so I thought it would be a good option." Pretty typical response.

"Oh, who do you know here?"

"I knew Mike really well in school and after I moved away for college we would still talk and meet up a lot. I remember us going here a few times, actually, but it sure has changed a lot since I was little." 

"Yeah, it has…" Ah, yes, Mike. I actually don't know him very well. Certainly not my type. He's always slacking off during work and never works past 3:00 pm because that's when his girlfriend stops by to visit. I wonder if she knows y/n...

“Anyway, how do I apply?” She asked suddenly.

“Oh, uh, here.” I handed her the form. It was a few questions for a background check, then a waiver. All of us have complained to the company about the faulty robots we were given, but they refuse to ship new ones to us. That's basically the only reason we need the waiver; every accident during work has happened due to those animatronics. Whoever’s up there making all of those robots must be making a lot of money. I bet the animatronics themselves make more than I do. I may be able to live in a big house but I think I deserve more dollars in my bank account.

“Ok!” she handed the form back to me. Everything looked normal, and she signed the waiver. 

“Well, I've got good news.” I said as she smiled.

“What?” wow what a dumbass.

“You're hired. I'll get a uniform from the back.” As I said this, I realized that all of my current employees are male and, therefore, there are no female uniforms in the closet. I grabbed a small shirt and went back to my office.

“Woah, thank you!” she exclaimed as I handed her the shirt and a name tag that read ‘y/n’.

“You'll need to provide black pants to wear with this.” I notified her, as there are no pants.

“Are shorts okay?” She asked. I mean, they're not illegal. But imagine if they were illegal and no one could wear shorts ever. That would be absolutely fucken insane. Everyone would wear long pants just all the time. Or skirts I guess, but what if you’re just not feeling that vibe? You're gonna die of heat stroke and everyone's gonna blame it on the president for passing a law to make shorts illegal.

“Sure.” just as I replied to her, someone knocked on the door and entered the office. And, of course, it was Mike. He confidently strolled in before seeing y/n and stopping in his tracks.

“Wait-” He began.

“Hi!~” She greeted him.

“y/n? When did you get here? I thought you wouldn't be in until next week.”

“Well, I had always planned on getting here today, as I did, but I had originally wanted to reserve a few days to actually move my stuff into my apartment. I was getting low on money, though, and decided to get a job first. Now my apartment is just boxes.” Now her last sentence here is confusing at best. This hoe rlly just lives in a box fort. Knowing her, though (which I didn’t), she probably has built a box fort with all of her unpacked boxes inside her apartment. I looked at Mike. I could tell that he wasn't expecting to see her here, even more so for a job interview.

“So, uhh…” He gestured to his surroundings, looked around, then continued, “here?”

“Yeah, I don't know this city very well, and I remembered you work here so I thought I would try it out!” She says this as if job hunting is fun, which it isn't.

“Oh, okay.” He said plainly. Seems like he's worried for her, but she needs the money and my restaurant is under-staffed. y/n began a new conversation about her experience in college and I took the opportunity to text Mike, since he obviously wanted me to fire her but I can't do that now even if I wanted to. I scrolled through my notifications. A few texts from Vincent, of course, and Tik Tok notifications gleamed before me as I typed in my password which I will not narrate bc Anne doesn't want to make one up but it's probably some dumb shit like 7777 or somethin. I opened my conversation with Mike bc Vincent can fucking wait. I typed a message,

I won't fire her, but she'll work  
during the day.

Woah that's a poorly and awkwardly worded text. I hope he understands what I meant. After he left to get back to work, I got his response.

Thanks. Don't let my best  
friend die.

Woah I do not know if I can fulfill that request but I guess I'll find out soon. So I guess they are just friends. He does have a girlfriend, after all.

*******************************

So y/n became one of our best employees. She works well with kids, she’s good at cleaning tables, and she plays Mr. Brightside on the loud speakers during clean up time every Friday. I should promote her to security, but with Mike still around…  
Maybe there’s another way.


	2. May

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The main issue with this chapter is that I wrote it before I planned on posting the story here and used the heart emojis when it was switching between the date flashback and the present time. If that’s confusing pls tell me and I’ll edit it

I’ve been leaving the house much earlier in the mornings lately. I don’t know why, but I feel like some unseen force brings me to work right at 6:00 am. Maybe the force has been seen, idk.

I walk in and am instantly greeted by y/n and Mike, chatting in the hallway. Promoting her to security really was a good idea after all. I can’t imagine, though, how she first reacted to the animatronics walking around. She probably didn’t even notice.

It’s almost as if they’re only after a few of us. They only want the few of us who could have prevented the murders but didn’t. I wonder if she even sees them. I know Jeremy doesn’t see them.

Mike and y/n end their conversation with, “see you tonight!” and Mike calmly walks out, twirling his keys between his fingers. How can he be so calm and focused all the time? I guess he’s just numb to the threat of death, or really does not care. I wish that could be me.

I turn my focus back to y/n, who is cleaning out the desk in the office. “You know, you don’t have to do that.” I tell her this every week, but she still does it. 

She tosses a few receipts in the trash can and rolls the can down the hallway. “Oh, no, it’s fine. I actually really like cleaning and organizing!” She stops the can in the doorway of the kitchen and continues, “By the way, have you seen Vincent anywhere?” Why would she want to know? I didn’t think she had even spoken to him once. I was about to reply when, as if on cue, a very purple man kicked open the front door.

“Hey,” he greeted us like a real fboy. 

“Hi,” I said, as monotone as possible. 

“Hey!” y/n jogged over to him, and they conversed about dinner plans tonight with Mike and his girlfriend, Doll.

It’s honestly disturbing to see them getting along, but I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because he told me he wouldn’t get with any girls after his ex. Or, alternatively, it’s because I feel bad for letting her fall into this situation. I mean, their dinner plan tonight sure does sound like a double date to me. Maybe I’ll ask her about it sometime.

They finish talking and Vincent lazily strolls into the security office while y/n is getting ready to go home. When Vincent is out of the room, she pulls me to the side.

She wasn’t sure if she should share this information with me, but knew that I would be a crucial part of Mike’s plan to solve the murder cases. We sat down at the cleanest table in the darkest area of the restaurant, and she spoke softly,

“So you just heard about our double date tonight, right? Don’t worry, we have a plan. Everything will be fine and this place will finally earn a good reputation again-”

After she said this, I suddenly realized what she was talking about. You see, Mike had been trying to solve the murders for about a year now with no success. It’s clear that he still thinks it was Vincent, but he doesn’t have enough evidence to back up his claims. I can’t believe he got y/n involved. I couldn’t help but ask, 

“Why are you part of Mike’s crazy conspiracy? What are you getting out of it?”

“Well,” she answered, “I want this place to be safe, of course. Our relationship won’t be long-term or anything. Just enough to gain his trust… Are- are you okay? You look really pale,” 

Although none of them are aware of my relationship with Vincent, I still can’t bring myself to respect their actions. All I can fathom is my own fear for their safety and for Vincent’s. Will he be angry? Will he resent me for letting them pick out every piece of evidence they can find against him? I had to get out of this conversation.

“Yes,” I assured her, “Yes, of course I’m fine. I just need to step out to,,,,, somewhere that isn’t here.” I abruptly stood and walked to the first room I found. It was backstage, but it was just fine for my purposes. I had to call Mike.

Of course, he didn’t pick up. I can’t face Vincent right now, knowing that his new “girlfriend” is just tricking him in order to fuel some stupid theory. They’re dating! It was so much easier when he was with someone I didn’t know, but her? He could tear her apart. How could I just sit around and let that happen? Why can’t I just let this go and allow her to make her own decisions? I… don’t want her to feel like I do.

Mike knows nothing about Vincent. He’s not going to care about y/n. He’s just going to tease her and then leave, just like how she’s pretending to love him. 

The backstage door creaked open and there stood Vincent. What can I say to him? 

“Hey~” He greeted me first. Ugh, he flirts like a high school freshman. “Hiding from the masses?” He asked me, but I wasn’t quite sure what he was referring to.

“What- what masses?” I ask, shakily. 

“Well, we just unlocked the doors for the day. Seeing as we’re severely understaffed, maybe you’d wanna help me out~”

“I’m your boss.”

“All the same job, isn’t it? Wrangling kids, getting yelled at by parents, being accused of child murder, hiding all the evidence from the police and health inspector, and living with the guilt of it all.”

“...” I hadn’t words. Considering what y/n said earlier… It couldn’t be him, could it? He has no motivation to kill. But, then again, would he need a motivation? 

I thought about what he said while there was still silence between us. He described it too perfectly. A real killer would deliberately ignore the crime they committed. I stared into his harsh, silver eyes. He’s my friend. Maybe even more. No one else knows him like I do. Suddenly, he broke the silence.

“I’m joking~~~~”

I didn’t know how to respond to this. I’m trapped between my trusted acquaintances and the one man I’ve known all my life. Fortunately, he continued before I made a decision.

“But seriously, we need a lot of help out on the floor. We could work the prize counter together~” I can practically hear the wavy line at the end of that sentence.

“Ok, fine.” I tried to smile and act like everything was fine, but it wasn’t. 

The rest of the day was pretty normal, except for Vincent constantly bugging me. I usually don’t say that we’re in a relationship. I always tend to chalk it all up to a life-long friendship and leave it at that. I’m not going to turn down an offer to stay the night at his place, but I like to keep our relationship underground. He’s gotten more and more clingy every day, though. The worst was during lunch hour when business at the prize counter is usually very slow. I was restocking items from the supply closet when he followed me inside and tried to pin me to the wall of the closet. I quickly ducked out of the way and continued working.

“Seriously, stop it with the PDA. Now is not the time.”

“Well, when will be the time? I’ll put it on my calendar~”

There are many times in which I love this man, but while I’m working is definitely not one of those times.

“Just-” I put my face in my hands, then brushed my hair out of my face. I looked back at Vincent, put on my fakest smile, and handed him a box full of colored bracelets. “Just sort these by color, please.”

After that, I left him alone in the supply closet. I helped a few customers before he returned with a few small crates of the bracelets, perfectly sorted by color. He set them down on the counter beside me.

“Here you go, love~” 

“Thanks.” I couldn’t even look at him. 

Even though no one noticed any of our exchanges today, I still felt really uneasy about him wanting to be so public about our relationship. I hope he doesn’t hate me. I still love him, I just can’t deal with the responsibility.

He left work early that day. Usually, on days like this, we would go to the library together, then go back to my place for the night. Instead, I drove home alone. My sons were out of town, so the house was completely empty. I missed him, but I’m not sure why. I don’t specifically like it when he’s here, but my life feels empty without him.

***************

The next evening, Vincent and I were the only ones left to clean up. I would be fine if he wasn’t so weird about it. I just wanted to wipe down the tables and leave, but he wanted to hang out, so I gave in and we had a nice evening together, I guess. Just the same as always.

Soon enough, it was 11:50 pm. Vincent knew about the dangers of the night shift, so he decided to go home for the night. He kissed me before he left. It was nice. It made me remember why I loved him in the first place. He’s gentle, he’s caring, and we understand each other. The bad times may be bad, but the good times are good. 

As we both let go and he pushed open the doors, y/n was arriving for work. I hope she didn’t see us. I realized I had completely forgotten about their date. I had only remembered this fact when they crossed paths at the front door. She held his hands and pecked his cheek. How can he just switch between us so quickly? I know she’s faking it, but she also doesn’t know that he’s already in a relationship. I guess we probably should be public if I don’t want him cheating like this… 

She walked inside, smiled and waved at me, looked behind her to make sure Vincent was gone, then sat down beside me. 

“Oh my god, he really did kill them,” she whispered, eyes wide and hands shaking. Not really knowing how to respond, I set my hands on the table and she placed her hands in mine.

“He couldn’t have killed them, y/n. There’s no way,” I tried to assure her, but I could tell she had already found evidence that points directly to him being the killer. I can’t prove her wrong, but somehow I know he couldn’t have done it.

“Last night, on our date, he told me about using the forbidden suits in the back. He told me that the Freddy suit isn’t trustworthy so he always uses the Bonnie suit if he needs to. You know who else used those costumes and prefers the Bonnie suit? The murderer! It’s too perfect! It’s-”

Suddenly, the clock chimed. It was midnight. We made eye contact, looked back at the stage, and sprinted to the security office. I guess she was scheduled to be alone tonight. 

“Hey, umm,” she began. “I listened to your tapes last week. Mike won’t admit this, but you saved his life.” This job always seemed so easy for Mike. Could it really be all because of those tapes I made?

“Oh, well, it wasn’t really my idea to make them, it was just Mr. Afton-” Now, this was true. The CEO of the company, William Afton, advised all of us managers to make training tapes for our employees, whether they actually listened to them or not. It was strange, actually. He only told us to make the tapes after he had been experiencing… hallucinations… or at least that’s what he told us. Just mental images caused by extreme levels of anxiety. I had always felt like there was something he specifically wanted to cover up, but I could never tell what it was. It was right after his co-founder, and best friend, Henry, died, too. I recorded 3 tapes explaining what to do in various situations of emergency, and left them in the office, right next to the answering machine.

My thoughts were interrupted as she closed the door to the west hallway. The door began to vibrate as if something, or someone, kept throwing themself at it, banging their fists against it, doing anything they could to be let inside. I seemed like it was just foxy at first, but it continued for longer than usual. 

“Someone’s out there!” She said softly. She tried to press the button to open the door but I pulled her hand away.

“What are you doing?”

“That’s not Foxy!” She slammed her other hand on the button and Mike stumbled through the door. y/n closed the door after he was inside.

“What are you doing here?” She practically screamed at him.

“I’m scheduled to work tonight.”

“So you broke into the pizzeria?”

“Well I’m fine now, and that’s what matters.”

“Yeah, I guess.” After she said this, he looked at me as if he hadn’t noticed I was there.

“You’re on security now?” He asked me. I wasn’t sure if he was just picking on me for staying late or if he actually thought I had started working a new shift. Maybe he thinks I’m trying to make a move on his best friend, which is most definitely not the case.

“No, I guess I just lost track of time.” This was kind of a lame excuse, but y/n helped to make it more believable.

“When I got here, just before midnight, he was still in his office.”

Mike nodded and sat down on a box in the corner of the office. I was going to ask y/n about her date last night, but I’m not sure if I should. I decided to go for it.

“So, y/n, what exactly happened on your date last night?”

Mike chimed in, “Wait, how did you know-”

“He overheard me inviting Vincent to have dinner with us,” she answered, then began to tell me about the date.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

All four of them met at the restaurant at 7:00 that evening. After they got a table, they ordered drinks. Vincent, as usual, was being a creep. 

When asked what he would like to order, he smirked and replied, “I’ll have whatever she’s having,” while sliding his arm around y/n’s shoulders. She freezed for a second before smiling and requesting, 

“Ketchup, please.”

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

“Wait,” I stopped y/n after she had said this. “You didn’t actually order a glass of ketchup, did you?” I asked her, hoping that she had not actually ordered a glass of ketchup at a fancy restaurant. Mike sighed. 

“Yeah,” he admitted, “She actually said that.” He put his face in his hands.

Okay, kind of gross, but whatever. I let y/n continue telling us about the date.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

It wasn’t until later in the evening that y/n got to speak directly to Vincent. He began the conversation.

“So, how do you like working here at Freddy’s?”

“Well, it’s not the best place in the world, but I get to see my friends every day, and our boss is pretty chill. It’s honestly one of the better jobs I’ve had. I used to be a teacher.”

“Oh, yeah, I get that. Sometimes you just want to murder those kids…” After this, he laughed, and y/n awkwardly laughed with him.

“Yeah, well, actually, the only reason I don’t have a teaching job is because none of the schools around here offer gardening classes. So what do you think about your job?” She tried to get him to start talking instead of just asking her questions.

“Well, I’ve been there since high school, so I know mostly everyone. It’s funny, actually. The boss didn’t think I would actually want to get to know you.” 

y/n specifically emphasized that he always referred to me as “the boss” which is kind of strange considering he’s known me since we were 5. I’m not sure if I should be glad that he’s keeping our friendship and relationship a secret or wonder if he even still thinks of me as a friend. Then, I realize. Why else would she specifically tell me that Vincent never called me by my name? She definitely saw our kiss earlier… 

“Well,” y/n replied, “I’m glad I did get to know you. You’re a nice guy.”

“Oh, you think so?~”

“Mhm~” in this very moment, y/n prided herself on being a very good actress. It appeared as if Vincent was falling right into her trap. At this rate, she would be reporting him to the police for child murder within the next week. Their flirting was interrupted by the waiter, who had set their drinks on the table. y/n moved her drink to the far edge of the table bc she’s smart and is not going to get drugged today. 

“So, what was your first job at Freddy’s?” y/n asked, hoping to get some sort of lead into how he could have committed the murders.

“Well, I used to be a performer,” he explained, “but someone really fucked up one day and we haven’t been allowed to use the suits since. He was in the Fredbear suit when the springlocks failed on him. That’s why I always used the Bonnie suit.”

“Oh, that sounds terrible. When did you guys stop using those suits? I only saw them once as a child.”

“We stopped using them right after I graduated from high school. I honestly miss it, but those brats were annoying, anyway.”

Vincent was finally opening up to her.  
She had one piece of evidence so far, she could surely get another.

After a few more minutes of casual conversation, Vincent had implied the possibility of her going back to his place after dinner, which y/n didn’t know how to respond to. You see, she was not the sharpest bulb in the shed. She hadn’t thought this far ahead, or even that Vincent would want to take their relationship so quickly. She responded with some vague answer that did not specify a yes or a no and then excused herself to use the restroom. She fixed her hair and lipstick, but couldn’t bring herself to go back to the table. She couldn’t bring herself to stay by Vincent’s side while the person she really loved was right in front of her.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

“Wait,” Mike interjected, “who do you really like?” 

y/n paused, realizing what she had just said. 

Mike tried to narrow the field, “Was it that guy from our graduating class in high school? He was just a few tables away. I remember you going out with him for a few months.” 

She awkwardly laughed, then continued telling her story.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

She stared at herself in the mirror, recounting everything that had brought her to one of the worst dates she had ever been on. She tried to avoid eye contact with another lady walking through the door only to realize that that lady was Doll.

“Hey,” y/n said nervously.

“Hey, are you okay, honey?” 

y/n didn’t know how to respond to this question. After all, the date was just a set up to gain evidence. She was scared, though, that she would have to spend time alone with this man who had been making sexual remarks at her and had been checking her out the whole evening. She just didn’t want to take their relationship any steps further than it already was.

“You know, he really isn’t a nice guy. I first met him when we were seniors in high school. I don’t know if you ever saw him, though,” Doll admitted to y/n, which made her feel a little better. At least she wasn’t alone in knowing that Vincent was a proper creep.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

This time, I interrupted her recount of the date. 

“Don’t- don’t talk about Vincent that way. He’s getting better, he just acts on instinct…” 

After I explained this, Mike shrugged. y/n, however was giving me the ‘who hurt you’ look. Why did I say that? 

“Look, I,” I tried to redeem myself, “We’ve known each other our whole lives. And, well,” I was going to regret this, but I realized that it’s important. No matter if they get the evidence or not, we’ll still be one step closer to finding the killer. “If there's anything you want to know, I’m basically an encyclopedia on Vincent.”

“Wow, thank you!” y/n smiled at me. I looked at Mike and he nodded approvingly. 

“Well,” I began, “what happened at the end of the date?” She then summarized the final minutes of the evening.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Doll gave her a pep talk in the bathroom, and they both strolled back to the table, where Mike had already paid for their food and drinks. She politely declined Vincent’s invitation to stay the night, and drove back to her apartment alone.

“And that’s basically it!” She concluded. “I bet Mike was ready to throw hands the whole night,” she laughed, and we both laughed with her. 

“Oh, I was. I wouldn’t have let you stay the night at his house even if you had said yes,” he assured her.

“Well, thank you,” she thanked him.

“If you’d like, I can ask him about you tomorrow so that you know how to get some answers from him.” I offered. What am I saying? ‘Get some answers from him’ doesn’t sound right. It just seems like the right thing to do.

She accepted my offer, and, soon after, the clock chimed. After that, we all went our separate ways.


	3. June

y/n and Vincent had been ‘dating’ for a month now. Whenever I would ask Vincent about her, he would tell me that she was kind, attractive, and patient, then he would say she acted like I would on a date. I don’t really care if we flirt with Vincent the same way, but it’s strange that he points this out. 

“Every time I ask her to come back to my place,” he complained, “she always says no. Now, on the first date, I understand, but on the fourth? Why is she still hanging on?” I did expect him to tell me this. She once asked me if I think she should take him up on these offers, and I told her to wait until she was ready.

“I don’t know, man.” I mumbled, focused on my work. 

“And she doesn’t even seem to want anything from me in our relationship. Just last night, it was just the two of us in my car. I thought she would like us to have some time alone together, but we had only been messing around for five minutes before she said she needed to go home.” 

Why is he telling me this? I stared into my computer screen. What does he mean by ‘messing around’? I feel sick. Maybe I’m just tired. I saved my work and put my head down on my desk.

“Are you okay?” He asked me.

“Yeah, just tired. Go help the guys with the birthday party.”

“The birthday party’s over, love. There are only two families here right now.”

“Fine,” 

I checked my phone. There’s a text from y/n that reads, “Hey! I’m coming in later today to get my hat that I left there yesterday. If you guys need any help, I’d be happy to get some extra hours in.”

I replied to her text, “Yeah, it’s on a shelf in my office. Also you don’t need to stay and help, today’s been pretty slow.”

As I finished this text, Vincent stood and walked over to me, looking over my shoulder.

“What’s that?” He pointed to the spreadsheet that was still open on my computer. 

“Oh, Mr. Afton offered us some new animatronic characters. I don’t think we can afford them.”

“Which ones?”

“Oh, uhh, there’s this one called Funtime Foxy and another one called Ballora. I don’t want either of them, but they could make us some extra money,” I switched to the tab that contained the email that Mr. Afton has sent me, complete with attached pictures of the robots. 

“Ballora is kind of creepy, and Funtime Foxy, well…” As I said this, I scrolled to the section of the email where the functions of the robots are listed. “Funtime Foxy can mimic the sound of voices, and with the murders that have taken place here…” I explained and Vincent nodded.

“Our old Foxy is pretty beat up though,” he mentioned. Foxy may be a little rough around the edges, but at least he still works… for now… 

I sighed. 

“They’re expensive,” I affirmed as I switched back to the spreadsheet.

“Hey,” Vincent started as he rested a hand on my shoulder, turning the chair I was in to face him. 

“You look like you need some rest. Let’s spend an evening together. It’s been a while.” He offered. It has been a while, but I really don’t feel up to it.

“No, I’m-” Declining his offer made me nervous, but I couldn’t bring myself to say yes, either. 

“I’m just not feeling it today. I’d love to, just another time.”

“That wasn’t a question, love, and you need some help. We’ll just get some coffee then spend the night together. What’s wrong with that?”

“I guess it’s okay, I just don’t want to- to-” Even though there was no one else in the room, I was still terrified that someone might hear me if I finish that sentence.

“If you don’t want me to go down on you, I won’t. I just want you to feel better.” 

If he wants me to feel better, he should just leave me alone. I know he cares about me and wants the best for me, but I wonder if he’s also just using me. He ran his fingers through my hair.

“Fine, we can go to my place after coffee,” I told him.

“Okay then.” He put his hands on the armrests of the chair and rested a knee on the side of the seat, now looming over me. I could hear voices from outside of the room. I looked up at him and laughed nervously.

“Vincent-” I whispered softly, “someone will see us…” I tried to gently pry his hands off of the armrests, but he wouldn’t move.

“Well, if they do, they’ll just know how much I love you~”

He leaned in closer. When our noses were nearly touching, the door to my office opened and y/n walked in.

“Hey, I’m just here to get my-” she started, then saw us. “I’ll, uhh, get my hat later,” she stammered before quickly leaving.

“y/n!” I called, but she didn’t come back. 

“Vincent, she thinks you’re cheating on her now.” I shoved him off of me and he stepped back.

“Why do you care? You don’t mind when I cheat,” he asked me. Actually, I do mind when he cheats, I just don’t tell him. I know that y/n will tell him, though.

“Whatever. It doesn’t matter now, she already saw us.” I put my face in my hands. I’ll have to talk to her about this later.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you later,” he said. “I’ll pick you up at seven. Love you.”

“Love you too.” I mumbled into my hands. After that, I heard the sound of a window opening. I looked up and he was gone.

I stood up and noticed that my hands were still shaking, but I didn’t know why. I’m not scared of Vincent. Maybe I’m just tired. That’s all it is. I’ll wake up tomorrow morning and everything will be just fine. I’ll wake up in the arms of a man who did not kill six children and I’ll go to work to find that my friend y/n has no idea that I’m dating this purple dude. Why can’t all of this just be a bad dream brought on by alcohol and tears?   
I’m lost.

I heard a knock on the door. 

“Come in.” I called. y/n walked through the door.

“Hi,” she said softly as she walked over to me. 

“Look, I’m so sorry for walking in on you earlier.”

“It’s fine,” I assured her, “I should have just told Vincent to leave instead of beating around the bush.”

“Yeah, you should have… So you’re not together?” She asked me. 

I didn’t know how to respond. I had to tell her the truth.

“Actually, we are,” I admitted for the first time. “We’ve been together since high school, I just didn’t want anyone to know.”

“I didn’t know you guys were together. I didn’t mean to interfere with your relationship.”

“It’s barely a relationship…”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, it just doesn’t feel right.” After telling her this, I grabbed her hat off of the shelf behind me and handed it to her.

“What- what do you mean?” She was beginning to look very concerned.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“If he’s abusing you I’ll report him.”

“He’s not abusing me! Stop- stop asking questions. We can talk more about Vincent tomorrow.” I felt bad for snapping at her, but I really didn’t want to hear any more about Vincent.

“Oh, okay.” She stared at the floor. She hasn’t been the same since she started going out with him. “I might call you later if I…”

“Sorry, I...” I couldn’t lie to her. She already knew. “I have a date with him tonight.” 

“Oh…” she paused. “Well, good luck. I’ll see you tomorrow.” With that, she left. 

************************

I don’t remember much of last night. Vincent picked me up at my house and we went to a local café and bar that was near the pizzeria. I really was not vibing with it. I remember us talking, ordering drinks, and getting a specific text from y/n, who asked me if I was okay. Then my vision started to get blurry. It was the best part of my day. I couldn’t think of anything. Me and Vincent were the only people in the world. We walked to his car together and he drove to my place. When we got inside, we went straight up the stairs and into the guest room. 

I guess the rest of last night was history. I don’t feel any better now, though. If anything, I feel worse because I’m now tired and sore. And, to top it all off, I have to talk to y/n about Vincent. 

When I got there, the place was empty except for Jeremy, who had just finished a night shift and was leaving. After he left, I was alone. I looked at my phone. It was 6:15 am. Why did I get here so early? I could have just stayed in bed with Vincent. Just in case, I texted him to assure him that I was, in fact, at work, since he isn’t scheduled to work today.

y/n was the first person, after me, to walk in. And, of course, she went immediately to my office.

“Hey!” She waved and clocked in, then sat on the couch. 

“Hi.” I looked at my desk, but there was no work to do, as the restaurant had not been opened for the day.

“So~” she began, “how was your date?” She asked. How much should I tell her? 

“Oh, it was pretty normal for us. He didn’t say anything suspicious.”

“Oh, well I guess that’s good.” While she was replying, I ran my fingers through my hair to try to make it look at least somewhat presentable. She walked over to me and brushed a few strands of hair away from my face. I know we’re friends, but it was still really awkward for her to be this close to me.

“Are- are you safe with him?” She asked me.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“It’s just-” She was hesitant, but felt the need to mention, “you have a bruise. Here, on your shoulder,” I buttoned the top button of my shirt after she said this, hiding my shoulders. “and also on your- your arms…”

I hadn’t realized just how bad my arms looked. My wrists were red and covered in scratches. The rest of my arms were almost entirely purple. I rolled my sleeves down and brushed a few strands of hair over part of my face.

“What happened to you? You look like you’ve been strangled!” y/n seemed as if she was scared for my life now. 

“I’m- I’m fine. Vincent, he- he probably just doesn’t know. It was dark, how could we have seen-”

“And what happened to your wrists?”

“It was probably just an allergic reaction to… some…” I made up a lie on the spot. “lotion. I guess it was just the wrong one.” I couldn’t tell her it was really because of the ropes.

“No one can see it, so it’s fine.” I assured her. She sighed.

“I know you're lying to me.” she held my hand. Oof ouch kinda hurts though.

“I know I'm lying to you, too,” I said.

“I won’t make you share anything you don’t want to, but I think you should be the one to report Vincent to the authorities.”

“I can’t do that, y/n. You know I can’t.”

“I only say that because his actions have affected you more than anyone else. If there’s a single person here who wants revenge, it should be you.”

“I’ve known Vincent my whole life. Why would I want revenge?”

“Look what he’s done to you!” We were both silent after she said this. She then broke the silence, “I can’t help you if you won’t help yourself. Vincent doesn’t give two shits about you, but I do. I’ll put him in jail with or without your help.” Again, there was silence.

“y/n, I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be.” She took out her phone. “Mike’s here. I’ll go unlock the door for him.” She left silently. I can’t believe I came to work like this. 

I took some bandages from a desk drawer and wrapped them around my wrists and hands. I hope no one notices them.

I’m guessing y/n didn’t tell Mike about what happened between us earlier because he never mentioned it to me. I left my office and walked to the dining area. We were understaffed again, so I stood behind the prize counter. 

Business wasn’t bad today, as we got more customers than we have been getting. In between the crowds of kids, though, someone else stepped up to the prize corner. While I was sorting items on the shelves, I heard y/n’s voice behind me.

“You know, you probably shouldn’t bandage burns like that,” y/n mentioned as I turned around.

“It’s fine. Just get back to work. Whatever happened last night is between me and Vincent.” I knew she was worried about me, but she had no reason to be. 

“Okay then~” she replied. Why did she say it like that? 

“Oh, by the way,” she added, “I’m going out with Vincent again tonight. I’m not sure what will happen.”

“He told me he wants to take you home. He says he really likes you.”

“Oh- oh- okay, I guess… Why is he so open with telling you about how he’s cheating?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to hear about it, either, but I guess I’m his emotional support- there’s a line of kids standing behind you,” I explained. She stepped to the side and I attended to the customers. 

“What about me?” She asked after the kids had left. “Why am I not his emotional support? What about Mike? Mike is his own cousin!”

“I don’t know, he just seemed attached to me when we were younger, and he was happy when he was with me, so we spent a lot of time together. Then high school rolled around and, well…” I thought this was a good place to end the story, but y/n persisted.

“What happened next? Why did you two decide to get together?”

“We can talk about it later. We only have a few hours left until we close the restaurant.”

“Okay…” She took a set of keys from one of the shelves near me, and began to walk toward Pirate Cove.

“Wait, where are you going?” I asked her.

“Oh, you didn’t hear? Foxy broke down. I’m only repairing him today because Fritz isn’t here,” she explained.

“Oh, well, be careful.” I said as she continued to walk away.

“I will,” she called back to me.

I soon finished sorting all of the prizes neatly on the shelves. I was about to close the counter for dinner when my phone started to ring. It was Vincent. I wouldn’t have answered, but I was on break, anyway, so I stepped into the supply closet and answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, love~”

“Uhh, hey, how have you been?”

“I’ve been fine. I just got up and wanted to talk to you.”

“Yeah, I- I actually wanted to talk to you, too.”

“I guess we just can’t be separated~”

“Uhh, yeah, I guess. So, about last night-”

“Fun, wasn’t it? Oh, it was wonderful…”

“Yes- yes- it was- it was fine. But we can’t do that anymore.”

“Well, why not?”

I sighed. 

“Well, it’s just-”

In the middle of my explanation, I suddenly heard a scream from outside of the closet.

“I need to go. Talk to you later.”

“Love yo-”

I hung up the phone and ran out of the closet. The restaurant had already closed, so at least no customers heard anything. The dining room was empty until Mike ran out of Pirate Cove and into the security office. Whatever’s in there must be bad. I walked to the miniature stage and slowly pulled the curtain away. First, I saw y/n. She looked as if she had been scarred for life, and quickly ran to hug me when she saw me. I, instinctively, stepped back and she let go.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“THERE'S A DEAD BODY IN THERE!” She screamed. I pulled the curtain aside again and, sure enough, inside of Foxy’s, now opened, robotic torso was the dead body of a child. 

My first instinct was to run and call the police, but then I thought aloud, 

“God, we’ll be shut down if anyone hears about this.”

I dropped the curtain. y/n sat down at a nearby table, and I followed.

“Everything will be fine. I just need to figure out how to clean this up…”

“Why not call Vincent? He’s probably responsible for it in the first place.”

“He didn’t do it- that doesn’t matter though. What does matter is getting rid of the body. I’ll just put that Foxy in the back and get a new one.” 

I called Vincent again. “Please pick up…” He answered the phone.

“Hey, love, back for more~”

“Vincent, I need your help.”

“With what?”

“With- with-” 

I looked around to make sure y/n and I were the only people around, then whispered, “hiding a dead body…”

“Oh, don’t tell me you killed them~”

“I didn’t kill them!” I took a deep breath. How could he just make a joke like that? “We just found one- inside of Foxy-”

“Well, I’d be happy to help.”

“Thank you. Bye.”

“See you soon~”

I slowly set my phone on the table. y/n made eye contact with me, having a new realization.

“We’re-” she whispered. “We’re criminals!” She cried. Her hands were flat on the table. I put my hands over hers.

“We take this to our graves,” I whispered and she nodded in reply before Vincent walked in. He could have at least tried to look nice. He was wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and flip flops. 

“Hey.” He waved at us. y/n quickly pulled her hands away from mine, stood up, and slightly backed away.

“Hey, Vincent…” She was shaking. I hope she’s not afraid of him because of me. 

“So where’s the body?” He asked both of us, but I could tell that y/n probably wasn’t going to respond.

“It’s- it’s in Pirate Cove. If you’ll take care of the body, I’ll mop the floor.”

“Sweet. I’ll get on that then.” He said this completely emotionless, as if he had done it before, then meandered over to Pirate Cove.

“Why do you stay with him? I don’t feel safe around him,” y/n asked me, but I couldn’t answer. Something about the way she was scared of him made me think I was missing something.

“Why don’t you feel safe?” I asked her.

“Well, there’s evidence that he’s a murderer, for one. Also, you always come to work in a bad mood after spending time with him. What if- what if this abuse has spread to other people in his life? He’s had multiple girlfriends in his life… Did you ever know anything about them?”

“No, he never told me any details, just that they were together.”

“I am willing to do anything to get him in jail. You need to cut him out of your life.”

“But-” I realized that she was right. My life fell in to more and more disarray as I continued to spend time with Vincent. But what would he think? What would he say if I just stopped communicating with him?

“For once, think of yourself.” I wanted to take her advice, but I didn’t know how.

Vincent strolled back into the party room, blood soaking his clothes. 

“Hey, y/n, ready for tonight?”

“Sure, sure.” She answered instinctively, then had an idea. “You wanna go home together tonight?” She nearly broke while asking him that. I felt bad for her. I could never imagine how he made her feel. Soon after, they left. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if she reported him.


	4. July

My life will never be the same.

It all started a week ago, back in June, when y/n and Vincent went on their last date. She told me about how he continuously bought her drinks, and how she gave the code word to the bartender to make all of those drinks virgin. After that, he brought her back to his apartment, where he invited her to come into bed with him. 

“Just a second~” she called from inside the bathroom. She had been standing by the bathroom window for 5 minutes before she knew what she had to do. She quietly left the bathroom and scurried to the kitchen.

“Hello?” She said softly into the landline phone. “I’d- I’d like to report-”

“Who are you talking to, lovely~” she heard footsteps in her direction.

“I’d like to report a murder- yes- he’s at-”

Suddenly, the line was cut. She looked around, and beside her stood Vincent. In one hand, he held a pair of scissors. In the other hand, he held a gun.

“A- a gun? I thought you used a knife…” 

“I could use the scissors if you want.” He glared at her. 

“You know, y/n, I was always suspicious of you.” 

He began walking toward her, cornering her in the back of the kitchen. 

“But I do wonder how you managed to find out I killed them in the first place.”

He pointed the gun straight at her forehead.

“Mike- he told me. Then I saw how you treated your boyfriend, and- and how you were so calm when disposing of that body…”

“You know, y/n, I kinda like you.” He lowered the gun and walked until they were only a few inches apart. “You remind me of someone- an old friend of mine…”

“I- I told him to cut you out of his life. You’re a monster!”

He pressed the muzzle of the gun against her left temple, and used his other hand to cup the right side of her face, dropping the scissors.

“You’re beautiful, y/n. It’s a shame. We could have been great together.” 

He sighed. 

“I guess all good things must come to an end. Goodbye, y/n”

She closed her eyes as she heard a small click, then a boot kicking a door, then a door flying open. She opened her eyes. 

There, in front of her, stood Vincent. His back was turned to her and his hands were in the air and gun-free. On the other side of the kitchen were three police officers. Behind the police officers stood Mike, Doll, and me.

Watching the officers take Vincent away was terrifying, but it was almost like a calm sort of closure. I wanted to completely forget about him to not only avoid our actions from the past, but also to not feel guilty for leaving him out of my future. 

After the apartment door closed, y/n fell to the ground. We all slowly walked toward her as she trembled on the ground. Eventually, Doll and I both looked at Mike, as he’s her best friend. He touched her shoulder, helped her up, and held out his arms as she collapsed into them, sobbing. I mean, she did almost just die. If I hadn’t called the police on him about the abuse he’s caused me, I don’t know if she would have survived. I noticed the cord to the landline phone had been cut. Somehow, he knew that she knew.

We all got in my car and drove to my house. I invited all of them to stay the night, as we were all a bit shaken up due to recent events and really needed the support. I had two extra bedrooms, anyway, so why not use them? After we stepped inside, Mike looked around in awe.

“Woah… your house is big…” he said.

“Yeah, I, uhh, inherited it from my uncle. He was a good person. I miss him.”

I opened the closet and pulled out a blanket. We all went to the living room, sat y/n down on a couch, and I wrapped a blanket around her. She had been completely silent ever since we found her in Vincent’s apartment.

“Are there any movies you guys like to watch?” I asked Mike and Doll, as y/n just stared blankly into the distance. 

“Well, the first movie I ever saw with y/n was The Bee Movie-” Mike started, then Doll interrupted him.

“Oh my god, Mike, we are not watching the bee movie!” Doll laughed and Mike laughed with her. 

I realized that this was what a relationship was really like. It wasn’t dependency, it’s not fear, and it’s definitely not obsession. All it is is unconditional love and support. Why do I feel that for y/n? Does she feel like that for me? Who knows.

“If you guys don’t choose, I’m picking Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” I joked with full intention of choosing it if they didn’t make up their minds.

“Actually, I’m good with that.” Doll replied and Mike nodded.

“Okay, cool.” 

I started the movie and made a pot of coffee, bringing the coffee pot and a few mugs into the room. Fifteen minutes into the movie, Mike and Doll were already asleep, but y/n was still wide awake. I poured a cup of coffee for her and sat next to her on the couch, as the other two were on the futon. She looked at me as if she wanted to tell me something, but couldn’t find the words.

“Thank you.” Her voice was raspy, but her words were strong and clear. “For being there for me. Who called the cops? I tried to, but the line was cut…”

“I called them. I told them about how he had abused me and that you were in danger.”

“I thought you didn’t want anyone to know.”

“I guess I just didn’t want you to feel what I felt.”

It was true. When I was in that situation, I didn’t think much of it. When it caused me to become isolated from others, I thought it was normal. And, when he began to take advantage of me, I thought I deserved it.

“Well, now we never have to see him again. Who are we gonna hire in his place?” She asked, taking a sip of coffee.

“I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll call back one of the applicants I turned away. I don’t want to think about it right now.” I answered.

“I don’t want to think about anything right now,” she added. 

She set her coffee mug on the table and flopped on top of me. At first, I flinched. I’m not comfortable with people touching me, especially after spending so much time with Vincent, but y/n has been through a lot recently. I put my arm around her and she snuggled closer to me.

“Maybe-” she whispered, “maybe we could go out for coffee? Tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” I answered and smiled. “That would be great.”

We were so close together that I could feel her heart beating. It was beating really fast, but I guess there’s a good reason why. She leaned in further until our lips were touching, but I backed off.

“y/n, I’m sorry, I just can’t-” she backed off, too, but she didn’t look hurt. “I’m not ready for another relationship. I don’t know if I’ll ever be…”

“I understand. With that you’ve been through, I wouldn’t want to, either.” I held her hands. We loved each other, we just couldn’t commit. “I’ll be here for you if you ever decide you want to go steady.”

“Thanks.” 

I watched the rest of the movie. As the movie was ending, I looked back at y/n. She was asleep. I reached for the remote, trying not to wake her. I turned the TV off, leaned against the side of the couch, and fell asleep holding her hands.


	5. Bonus Chapter: One Phone Call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This is a bonus chapter! I wrote it for fun and the story would be completely the same without it, so if you don’t want to read it, you don’t have to, and all of the points mentioned here are explained later in the plot.

“Hey~” I heard a male voice from the living room.

“Hey… who is this?” y/n responded.

“Who the fuck are you?” The man said again.

I walked through the living room to find y/n talking to someone who sounded like Vincent on the phone. She held the phone out to me.

“It’s probably for you.”

I took the phone from her hand and laid on the couch.

“Yellow.” I mumbled into the phone. y/n looked at me with a funny expression.

“Did you just say yellow?” She asked me. I didn’t respond.

“Hey, sexy~” a raspy, British voice flirted through the phone. Yep, that’s Vincent.

“Oh, hey, Vincent.” 

“So, I have a question for you, babe~”

I put my hand over my face and sighed.

“What do you want?”

“I was thinking that maybe you could spare some change to get me out of here.”

“I don’t think I can afford it.”

“Oh, but it would be worth it to have me back, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah, sure, sure, but I can still visit you in jail-”

“You wouldn’t want something bad to happen to me, would you?”

“Well- no- but-”

“You still love me, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. Look, I’m just really tired right now. I’ll visit you as soon as I can.”

“Wait- before you go, who answered the phone first?”

“Oh, just y/n.” After I said this, she looked at me again. I felt bad for outing the fact that she was living with me, but I guess Vincent would have to find out eventually.

“Oh~ I see what’s going on here. Well, how is she?”

“Uhh, she’s been fine, I guess.”

“You know what I mean~” After he said this, I tried to think of what he could actually mean, but it made my head hurt. Suddenly, I realized.

“No- no- not like that, I promise.”

“Yeah, sure. All I ask is that you name your next kid after me. It’s the least you could do.”

“Vincent, that’s enough. Tell me what I can do for you or I’m hanging up.”

“Bring me a pair of sandals.”

“Okay.” I pressed the red button as quickly as I could, then stood up and looked back at y/n.

“What was that all about?” She asked, walking over to me.

“Vincent wants us to bail him out, but I can’t afford it. He also asked me to take a pair of sandals to him.”

“Well, if you don’t want to go alone, I’d be happy to go with you…”

“Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt if we went together. I can tell he doesn’t really like you, though.”

“Oh, yeah, I don’t really like him, either. We never got along, even when we were pretending to be a couple. We fought all the time.”

“He always tried to pick fights with me, too, but I’d just agree with him in order to avoid it.”

She sighed.

“He was so awful to you. I’m so sorry I didn’t do anything sooner,” she said softly. She put her hands on my shoulders then slowly wrapped her arms around my back. I hugged her in return. 

“Hey,” she giggled, “you didn’t flinch that time.”

“Well,” I responded, “I guess I trust you.”


	6. August

I invited y/n to stay at my place a few weeks ago. I told her that she could stay as long as she wanted to or needed to in order to feel safer in her own apartment. She’s been staying in the guest room, and it’s really nice to have her around. She even asked me to teach her how to cook. She’s still horrible at it, but she’s getting better. She helps out a lot with cleaning and gardening.

In other news, Vincent was on trial for the murders shortly after they took him in and, just a few days ago, he was proven guilty. As far as we know, he could be in there for life. I’ve visited him a few times, all of which were mostly him begging me to bail him out, and me politely declining. He also told me something else, though. He told me that he had been talking with Mr. Afton for years before the murders happened, and that he was actually instructed to kill the kids by William Afton. I’m not sure if I should believe his story or not. It probably doesn’t matter. He’s a murderer whether he was told to or not. 

y/n had begun to decline after he was convicted, though. She and Mike had this big argument where Mike felt betrayed that she would stray from his advice. He had recommended for her to not only call the police at the first irrefutable charge she could make, but to also not go home with Vincent in the first place. It was only because he was worried about her, but he was so harsh about it that she felt the need to argue back, claiming that Vincent only landed in jail when he did because she took risks to get him there. They also brought up other issues that didn’t relate to me or Vincent. Neither of them were completely in the right, but they kind of stopped talking for a while after that. y/n really misses him. They see each other at work, but they never even acknowledge one another. 

There was also another variable I hadn’t thought of. My kids, Matthew and Benjamin, were scheduled to come home from summer camp at the beginning of this month, and they did. I had planned for them to stay here more often after Vincent was thrown into jail, as I would be able to spend more time with them. We found out that y/n actually has a really good insight into literature, and has been able to help both of them out a lot with school. I know Matthew likes having her around, but his brother doesn’t seem to like her. I’m not sure why.

Eventually, she needed to leave, though. She packed her stuff and went to live back at her apartment, as she’s still paying rent to live there. I’m glad that she feels safe, but my life always seemed much less stressful when she was around. I started visiting the jail more often after she moved out. The cement doors were cold and heavy, and the interior of the building wasn’t any different. Before I knew it, I was sitting at a white table. On the other side of the table was Vincent, just like old times. He looked tired.

“Hey, lovely. Back again, I see. Don’t worry, I missed you too~”

“I- how have you been?”

“Well, not much has happened since you last asked me. Yesterday, I think it was. The people here still don’t like me, there’s rarely anything to do, and I can never get to sleep at night with my cell mates leaving the TV on all the time. If you pay my bail, though, I can give you a little something in return-”

“I can’t- I can’t pay it. It’s over a million dollars…”

“Well I guess you’ll just have to come all the way out here whenever you’re lonely~”

He never asks me about my life. He just assumes that I’m lonely without him, which is true, but a lot of things have happened since he was arrested.

“Well we got that Funtime Foxy suit you asked me about a while ago, and it’s been working really well. There’s just one issue, it’s-”

“Oh, don’t tell me it has a corpse inside of it, too-”

“No! Why would you say something like that?” 

He caught me off guard. I can’t believe he just said that in front of everyone. The guard near our table glared at us, but soon looked away. Vincent just shrugged. 

“No,” I continued, “it just keeps mimicking your voice, that’s all.”

“Aww, well that’s sweet that you guys are all still thinking of me.”

“Yeah, uhh, well,” I wasn’t sure what to say. Except for y/n, no one else at the pizzeria has even mentioned Vincent.

He didn’t seem to specifically want to talk about anything else. I could tell he was just stalling so that I would stay, so I looked at my watch and said, 

“I should probably be going, then, if there’s nothing else to say.”

“Oh, but you should stay. There’s plenty more to talk about~”

I didn’t want to tell him, but it’s probably the only way to get him off my back.

“I- I have a date tonight. A friend date. With y/n.”

“Do you never learn?” After he asked me this, I shrugged. I felt bad for leaving him here, but I have a life outside of Vincent, and he needs to realize that. 

He continued, “She’ll betray you, just like she did to me. She doesn’t care about us.”

“Well, she’s gotten to be pretty important to me, so-”

“So you’ll let her break your heart. I get it. You just want someone to keep your bed warm.” 

“What?”

“You know what I said.” After he said this, I stood up.

“You know what? I really need to go. I’ll come back in a few days.” The guard near our table took Vincent by the shoulders.

“See ya~” 

With that, he was gone. When I got back to my car, I stared back at the concrete doors. Vincent’s never getting out of there, and it’s all my fault. 

I, eventually, started the car and headed back into town. I checked my phone when I got to the art museum, where y/n had offered to go on a friend date. I had 3 missed calls and 5 unopened texts from her. I guess it was because I got there fifteen minutes late. 

Before I walked in, I instantly saw y/n sitting on a bench against the exterior marble wall. She was wearing a casual, tea length dress. She looked up from her phone and practically ran over to me.

“Are you okay? Mike told me you were going to the county jail this afternoon to see Vincent, so I wasn’t going to interrupt you, but then I saw it was five o’clock, and I-”

“I’m fine, y/n, don’t worry.” I held out my hands and she took them.

“I’m just so scared for you. I mean, I know they have guards, but…” 

“I probably won’t be visiting him any time soon.” 

She looked into my eyes. I could tell she was happy to hear that, but she was also confused.

“Why not?” She asked, gently squeezing my hands.

“I- well- I told him when I had to leave that I was spending more time with you just as a friend. He seemed to hate the idea of us being together. That’s why I was late. He kept trying to talk me out of our date.”

“Oh, well, I know he doesn’t like me. I did lie to him, after all. I’m sorry if I’m a problem for you guys.”

“You’re not the problem. Vincent and I just need to spend some more time apart, that’s all.”

“Yeah, you probably do,” she replied as a cool breeze blew past us. She shivered. “We should go inside.”

“Yeah, we should.” 

We both laughed and made our way inside the museum. I had never been on a museum date before. It was different, but it was a good sort of different. We didn’t pay very much attention to the art, though, as we just aimlessly walked around, chatting and getting to know each other better. She told me about growing up in this town. She showed me a bracelet that her first boyfriend gave her in middle school. She talked about her pet bumblebee, whom she apparently named Steven.

“Now, I know what you’re thinking,” she said, “you want to meet Steven the bumblebee, right?” 

“Sure, he sounds like a nice guy,” we looked at each other and we were both beaming.

“You know, that’s the first time I’ve actually seen you smile,” she remarked. “It’s not like how you smile at our coworkers or customers, though. You look happy.”

“I am happy, y/n. I love you.”

Her nose and cheeks turned pink before replying, 

“I love you too.”

*****************************

Days at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria were getting busier and busier. It was stressful, but I was able to give everyone a pay raise, which is definitely worth the hard work. 

We’ve been having a difficult time with Funtime Foxy, though. Our technical team (Fritz) tried to remove the voice mimicking functions, but instead removed all audio commands except for occasional white noise. The robot also can’t be programmed to match anything else in Pirate Cove, so we just decided to close the curtains and have Funtime Foxy walk around and greet people. Some of the kids are kind of rough with it, though. I hope it stays together…

y/n and Mike still aren’t on speaking terms. It’s really worrying at this point. She talks to me a lot during the day, which wouldn’t be an issue if I didn’t have a job to do. Every day when she’s not scheduled to work, she talks to me on the phone. Today happened to be one of those days. While I was finishing an expenses sheet, my phone began to ring. I put my airpods in my ears and pressed the green button.

“Hello, hello.”

“Heyyyyy,” she said.

“What do you need, y/n?”

“Just someone to talk to, I guess.” 

“Look, I’m trying to finish up some financial stuff right now. If you want to hang out after work, though, I’d be happy to.”

“I’m going for a walk in the park this evening.” She offered. It’s kind of tiring to go out with her this often, but at least it’s just temporary. After she and Mike become friends again, our lives will finally be back to normal. Or, at least, as normal as our lives can be.

“I’ll meet you there, then. Is five o’clock good for you?” I asked. I hoped that I could make it there before five. At least I’m not going to see Vincent today.

“Yeah, see you then!”

“Bye, love you,”

“Love you too!” 

After that, she hung up.   
I typed the last variable into the spreadsheet and pressed enter. For the first time in a while, the number at the bottom of the sheet was negative. I can’t believe it. We’re actually making money. For the rest of the day, I helped out in the dining area. 

******************

“I’d like to talk to you about your restaurant.”

My office was unusually clean, my hair was styled, I was wearing a tie, and Mr. Afton sat on the other side of my desk. He had learned of the growing profit that my Freddy’s location was bringing in, and wanted to talk to me about potential changes I could make to my franchise. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to, but having more money to support my kids would be really nice.

“What about it?” I asked. He stood up and began pacing the floor. 

“You see, since the day I qualified you to open this franchise, I knew you’d be successful. As of right now, you are making more money than any other location in our region. I just have one simple request to ask of you, though.”

“Whatever it is, I’ll do it.”

y/n pushed the door open and strided to my desk. For the occasion, she wore a suit complete with a pearl necklace and matching heels. ‘She’s beautiful,’ I thought to myself, but didn’t say aloud. She carried a tray with two coffee mugs sitting on it.

“Coffee, gentlemen?” She asked as she set the tray on my desk. 

“Thank you,” I thanked her.

“My pleasure.” She sharply turned and made her way out of my office. 

“As I was saying,” Mr. Afton continued, “I applaud your effort, but I really think I have an idea that could help you make this location the best in the country. Now, I’m sure you’ve heard about the crimes that this restaurant has dealt with.”

“Yes, sir. I’ve done my best to rebuild our reputation.”

“And you’ve done a wonderful job at that. However, I’m thinking we take a bigger step toward more effective safety and security at our restaurants. I’m thinking we should remodel all of our locations. Your restaurant will be the first.”

“How will we remodel it?”

“Correction: I’ll remodel it. You don’t have to worry about it in the slightest. First, we’ll get those… things… out of here. I’ve got new models for you to try out. You can keep Funtime Foxy, though.”

“What else will be changed?”

“Oh, we’ll add some more seating. We’ll make the kitchen larger. We’ll take those doors off of the security office. They’re wasting electricity, anyway.”

“Oh, um, okay.”

“The new lineup of characters is going to be what saves Fazbear Entertainment. You see, these new models I’ve designed have something that the older ones lack: a facial recognition system. Each one of them is connected to a criminal database, as well, so if that kid who murdered our patrons even tries to get in this place, he’ll get what’s coming to him.”

“I’m sorry, who?”

“Vincent. He may be related to me, but I won’t bear any relation to him. If he steps a single foot in this restaurant, my new lineup will call the police as soon as they can.”

“Okay, I’ll accept your offer. What do I need to do for the remodeling process?”

“Right now, you don’t need to do anything. We own a plot of land out by the shopping mall where we’ll be building it. After it’s done, we’ll shut this one down and transfer everything to the new place.”

“Okay.”

“Thank you for your cooperation.” I stood up and he shook my hand. His handshake was strong and intimidating, but still trustworthy. He was hellbent on keeping his word. “I’ll be seeing you again in a month after construction begins.”

“Thank you, Mr. Afton.”

“You’re a good kid. Your girlfriend’s pretty nice, too. I’m glad we could talk.”

“Me too.”

y/n and I escorted him through the hallway and to the entrance of the restaurant. When we were just outside of the entrance, he shook my hand again.

“Keep up the good work. I know you won’t disappoint me.”

“Thank you, sir.” 

After I thanked him, he stepped into his car and drove away.

y/n turned to me.

“Hey, I think I’m gonna go home and change clothes. Is there anything you need?” She asked. 

I usually wouldn’t go home this early, but I don’t think I’m needed at the restaurant right now, either. 

“Actually, I’ll head home, too. I just need to tell Chris that we’re leaving.”

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She smiled at me before strolling back to her car. 

“See you tomorrow,” I said before going back inside. y/n still hasn’t been acting like herself. I would try to help her make up with Mike, but their disagreement doesn’t involve me, and I don’t want to be a part of it. I decided to call her after I got home. I don’t have the energy to invite her over, but I’d at least like to talk.

I logged off of the computer and told Chris, the new guy I hired to take over Vincent’s position, that I was leaving for the day. After that, I drove home.

I arrived at 2:00 pm. No one else was home. I untied my tie and walked upstairs to wash my hair, as I used gel to keep it in place this morning. I soaped it, rinsed it, then looked back into the mirror. Holy shit, it looks exactly the same. I must have been at it for half an hour before my phone began to ring. It was y/n.

“Hello,” I sighed, defeated. My hair will never be the same again.

“Hey, is something wrong?” She asked.

“Yeah, but it’s not that bad. I just can’t undo my hair…”

“Do you want some help?”

“No- no, it’s fine. I’m getting it.”

“Are you using hot water?”

“No, I’m just using cold sink water and soap.”

“If you get in the shower and use hot water and shampoo it’ll come out easier. Also, use conditioner.”

“I don’t think I have conditioner.”

“I can bring you some-”

“You don’t need to do that. I’ll just buy some when I go grocery shopping tomorrow.”

“Okay, well, if you ever want any help, I’m not working tomorrow. You can stop by my place any time.”

“Thanks. I’ll probably end up taking you up on that offer.”

We both laughed, then there was silence.

“Well,” y/n started, “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then. You can meet my new beta fish!”

“See you tomorrow. Tell Steven I say hi.”

“I will. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

After I said that, she hung up. I looked back at myself in the mirror. Sure, my hair was a wreck, but I looked… different…

First of all, the dark circles surrounding my eyes were gone. I was finally able to sleep at night. 

Secondly, I didn’t see the usual bruises along my jawline and cheekbones. I had never thought much of them until now. Now that they’re gone, I realized the damage they caused me.

Lastly, I stepped back. My shoulders weren’t red or purple, and they weren’t sore, either. The only marks left on my back and chest were a few stray scars. 

How did I get here? Why did I end up safe while Vincent is still suffering? I suddenly feel bad for leaving him behind, but I don’t want to keep him around with how he treats y/n.

I know that y/n really cares about me, too. I’m almost scared to take our relationship any further, seeing how my last two ended. I’m glad that she’s willing to stay friends with me, though.

It’s like I’m a different person, but I don’t mind that.


	7. Bonus Chapter: The Powerhouse of the Cell

Vincent knew that his fellow inmates wouldn’t take a liking to him, but he didn’t imagine prison life quite like this.

First of all, his cell-mates were already biased against him because he was in for domestic abuse. When he was proven to have committed child murder, they began to resent him even more.

Life might have been better for him if he had laid low and just served his time. However, he was nothing but his usual self. 

You see, two of his roommates were in for murder, one for murdering his boss. What Vincent didn’t realize, though, is that there is a fine line between shooting your employer and sexually harassing and abusing your employer. 

I felt bad for Vincent, but I guess karma’s a bitch sometimes. 

When he first got in, the only bed available was the top bunk of a bunk bed. This was fine, as his cell-mates didn’t even want to talk to him after they found out what he was in for.

“What’s wrong with you?” Is a common question he would hear. His response was always the same:

“Wanna find out, babe~”

Obviously, he was not popular.

Here’s the thing: I never remember him sleeping, yet he complains about not getting enough sleep in jail.

Whenever we spent nights together, he would never sleep. He would make me stay up all night with him no matter what we were doing. I guess that’s why I still couldn’t sleep for a few days after he first landed in jail. It’s probably also why I was always so tired all the time.

I wonder if he has any new obsessions. Maybe he has a hobby or has made a name for himself in a good way.

Probably not.

Every few stops he would take, he would scan his surroundings, paranoid that someone would want revenge. He would talk to people, but found the sheer act of socialization so boring that it wasn’t really worth it. However, there was one group of guys that would hang around in the courtyard whom he had taken a liking to. These few men would plan various ways to escape.

“Well, why don’t we just jump that fence there?” Vincent asked. This had been the first time he had actually joined a conversation with them instead of just smirking and nodding.

“The cameras would catch us. Even if we turned them off, the electricity at the top would kill us in no time. But you’re not bad, kid. Which cell do you live in?” The man who asked this was at least a foot taller than Vincent, and looked strong enough to yeet him to the moon.

“Uhh, 306.” Vincent replied softly. I can’t believe he had the guts to talk to these guys, let alone give them his address.

“I’ll make sure you guys get out, then.” 

Vincent couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He finally learned how to play the right cards. He can now manipulate an entire new group of people. Once they find out what he’s in for, though…

Well, only time will tell. For now, all I know is that they’re planning their escape, but it will take a while.

I guess I’ll be seeing him after they pull their plan together.

I’m terrified.


	8. September

Construction on the new location started a couple weeks ago. Meanwhile, I’ve been spending a lot of time with y/n. The restaurant is only open for 5 hours per day now, but that hasn’t slowed business around here. Although we had to take Bonnie and Chica offstage to be used as parts for the new robots, we’re still making as much money as we have been. 

y/n and Mike forgave each other, too. Ever since then, we’ve been hanging out with him and Doll pretty frequently. We’ve also gotten a lot closer since then, too.

I’ll never forget the first day I went to y/n’s apartment. It was only a month ago, but so much has changed since then. I still haven’t committed to a relationship with her, but ever since that day, I’ve highly considered asking her out for real. In case you’re wondering, we showered together. Yes, my hair is back to normal. No, we didn’t go any further than we have been. I was almost expecting her to trick me. I’m not sure why, but I was ready for her to make the first move right then and there. The most she did was kiss my cheek before I left.

Vincent is always asking me about y/n, but I can’t bring myself to tell him anything. Hell, even Mike doesn’t know how much time I spend with y/n. She doesn’t seem to care about being public, though. She just loves me and wants to stay with me. It’s refreshing to not feel used.

There was just one thing I found strange about the remodeling process. There’s not even a new building yet, but Mr. Afton still keeps switching out which animatronic can still be on the old stage. For the first few days, he took Chica back to the shop for repairs. He brought her back, good as new, but she was definitely different. By the end of the first two weeks, he had taken in all of them, bringing them back after a few days. I thought it was strange that he was repairing them when there was a whole new lineup going to the new place. When he asked for Foxy, however, he seemed really suspicious.

“Why is Foxy sitting backstage?” He asked me.

“Oh- we- uhh,” I wasn’t sure how to tell him that there was a dead body inside of the suit. Before I could respond, he opened the suit to find it empty except for the normal endoskeleton. He looked surprised. 

“Who fixed him up? I thought your foxy was malfunctioning…” he asked. I wasn’t sure how to respond, but I decided to tell most of the truth.

“y/n- y/n l/n, sir.” I answered. He turned around and began to walk toward me. I paced backward until I reached the back wall.

“I see. May I speak with her? I may like to promote her to assist me.” He made eye contact with me. His eyes were cold and his eyebrows even harsher.

“Yeah- yeah, sure.” I stammered before quickly opening the door and rushing out of the backstage area, Mr. Afton following me. What if he finds out we hid the body? Maybe he knows-

I suddenly remember what Vincent told me about William Afton.

He knows about the murders.

He knows about the kids.

He knows we hid a body.

Oh, no. Oh, God, no, NO.

This can’t be happening.

I suddenly stopped, staring down at the floor in front of me. On the floor before the Pirate Cove stage was a faint blood stain. The room itself was eerily empty. This had to be a dream. This can’t be real.

“Are you alright?” He put his hand on my shoulder and I jumped.

“Woah, didn’t mean to scare ya, there,” he continued.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just- here, let’s find y/n,” I replied as calmly as possible.

We found y/n in the eastern hallway, picking up a few spare pieces of garbage.

“Ah, y/n l/n. I’ve been wanting to speak with you.” He walked over to her and shook her hand. She smiled back at him, but glanced at me worriedly. I looked back at her, shrugged, and leaned against the wall.

“Of course, sir.” She replied.

“You see, I’ve been taking Henry’s old models back to my shop to make repairs. However, I saw the work you did on Foxy and, I’ve got to say, I’m impressed with your work.”

“I- I don’t understand.” She looked back at me, but I wasn’t paying attention. I was too busy trying to breathe steadily.

“You see, there’s been a major issue with his older models, especially the ones at this location. When I looked at your Foxy, however, I didn’t see the problem that all of your other animatronics have.”

“Well, I’m happy to hear that, sir.”

“I can see you have a knack for this sort of thing, which is why I’d like to promote you to my personal assistant.”

“Your- your what?”

“You work well with people, you work well with robots, you work well with children… you’d be an excellent candidate. I’ll only hire you if you want the job, though.”

“I- I-”

“If you need some time to think about it, that’s fine. Take all the time you need. You have a week to decide.”

“Okay. I’ll let you know, then. Thank you, sir.”

“The pleasure is all mine. You have my email when you make up your mind.” He waved and began to walk toward the exit before stopping and turning back to her. 

“I hope you’ll accept my offer.” 

With that, he had disappeared around the corner and had left the restaurant. y/n turned to me.

“Does- does he know?” She asked.

I nodded. My face and hands were cold. I was never squeamish around blood until now. She took my hand. 

“You’re… cold. You look sick. Are you alright?” She asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I just- he opened the Foxy suit, and there was so much- there was-” I wasn’t sure how to describe the inner walls of the suit. 

“I thought you didn’t mind blood. You used to have those scratches all over…”

“It started after he first went to jail. I guess I just can’t see it anymore without feeling light-headed.”

“Can I get you anything? Do you want me to take you home?”

“No- no, you don’t have to do that. I’m just fine to drive. You’re welcome to have dinner with me this evening, though.”

“Smooth move,” she laughed, “But I’d love to, thank you.”

“Anytime.”

We walked to my office in silence. Even if we had tried to talk to each other, we probably wouldn’t be able to hear anything over the noisy children around the show stage. We both did our jobs as normal for the rest of the day.

*********************

I heard a knock on my front door.

“I’ll get it!” Yelled Benjamin, my youngest son, from the kitchen.

I heard the door open and close before he yelled again,

“Dad, someone’s here to see you!”

I knew exactly who it was. I walked downstairs to see y/n standing in the foyer.

“Hey, y/n.”

“Hi,” she greeted me, smiling. I led her into the living room, where she quickly slid the door closed and kissed me.

I had thought about pulling away, but I didn’t. I just kissed her back. We had both ended up lying on the couch by the time we pulled away, her on her hands and knees over me. I stared into her sparkling eyes. After a few seconds of silence, she finally spoke, whispering,

“I hope that was okay.” 

I, not knowing how to respond, whispered in reply,

“It was perfect.”

After that, we got up, ate dinner, and played Minecraft together after the boys went to bed. 

“You know,” she began, “if you don’t want to commit to a relationship right now, that’s perfectly fine. That kiss earlier was pretty nice, though…”

“I love you, y/n. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I’m just scared of what could happen if people found out we were together…”

“People, like Vincent? What will he do if he finds out, love? He’s in jail for life. If he hates you just because we’re together, he never loved you in the first place.”

“I know, I just- I can’t stop thinking about him. He’s in jail because of me.”

“He’s in jail for no reason other than his own choices. Everything will be just fine. Think about yourself. Think about us. We have a future together.”

She ran her fingers through my hair and smiled. I smiled back as we held eye contact. She fingered the collar of my shirt until she got to the closed buttons. Before she could unbutton one, I took her hand off of my chest. She just stared back at me, slightly confused. I looked down at our intertwined hands.

“y/n, I- I still have scars, scars that I got from…” I couldn’t finish this statement.

“It’s okay, I can handle them. I’ve seen them before.”

“No, I- I can’t. I can’t stand to see them or think of them or-” she continued to stare back at me, so I made eye contact with her once again before continuing,

“The thought of having sex with you brings back memories that I don’t want anymore. I know that you won’t hurt me, but I’m still terrified at the thought of it.”

She squeezed my hands as she replied,

“Finally, you say what you mean. I’ll respect your wishes even if I don’t understand. You’re the most important person in the world to me, and all I want is for both of us to be happy-”

She was interrupted by her cell phone ringing. She picked it up, still sitting in the same spot on the couch and holding my hand. She nodded and replied a few times before freezing and dropping my hand.

“I- I understand, officer… Thank you… Goodnight.” She said shakily before taking a sharp breath and dropping her phone on the carpet. She stared at the, still glowing, screen as a single tear fell from her eye. 

“Is everything alright?” I asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“They’re- they’re dead…”

“Who’s dead?”

She took another shaky breath before answering.

“Mike and Doll. They’re gone…”

She continued to stare at the ground until I gently squeezed her shoulder. She quickly hugged me and began to sob into my shoulder. I hugged her back as I realized what she was saying. 

Both of her best friends are dead.

*******************

I let her stay the night at my house. I was a bit surprised to wake up next to someone who wasn’t Vincent, but it’s a nice change. 

She told me last night, after calming down, that they had died in a car wreck earlier that evening and that the patrol officers on the scene only called her because they found her number on the back of a receipt inside of Mike’s truck. They asked her if she knew him and if she was related to him in any way.

I guess our lives will be put on halt for now, as y/n will probably want to take a break for a week or two and Mr. Afton, Mike’s father, will probably want to slow work on the reconstruction. I’m also not sure if he’ll still offer her the job now, either.

I took her home this afternoon, leaving her car in my driveway. She can always come back for it later. 

I decided to leave her be for a few days. I still paid her as if she was coming to work, even though she was probably just at home watching every Disney™️ Pixar™️ movie ever made. I did begin to worry for her, though, when it had been three days and she hadn’t even texted me back. She did read my text, though, so that’s something.

I decided to visit her. After I left the restaurant, I made my way to her apartment. When I got there, I softly knocked on the door. I heard footsteps before the door opened and, in front of me, stood y/n, wearing nothing but a sports bra, athletic shorts, and a blanket.

“Oh- hi… I guess I didn’t expect to see you today,” she greeted me, wrapping the blanket completely around her shoulders and letting me inside, closing the door behind me.

“I just haven’t heard from you for a few days. Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I’m- I’m fine.”

I guess I had expected her apartment to be messy, but I was surprised to find that it was spotless. We both walked into the living room and sat on opposite sides of the couch. 

“Is there anything I can do for you? I’m going to the store tomorrow, so,” I offered. 

“Thanks, but I have enough food. I actually ordered pizza from Freddy’s yesterday, so I got to talk to Jeremy. Have you hired anyone to take over the night security position yet?”

“I’m thinking about promoting Jeremy to security and hiring a new delivery driver. I have two new applicants that I haven’t placed yet, so I’ll have to choose…”

“You might not have to choose. I talked to Mr. Afton yesterday. He didn’t seem to be affected at all and he gave me the job. I guess I should have told you earlier…”

“That’s great. When do you start?”

“Monday.”

After her response, we were both silent. We liked simply being in each other’s company, whether we were talking or not. She sighed. I put my arm around her and she leaned against my shoulder.

“I don’t know if I can do this.” She suddenly whispered to no one in particular.

“Do what?”

“Go through with this new job. That’s why I haven’t filled out my resignation form yet. It’s just- it’s at his house.”

“Mr. Afton?”

“Well, yes, but also Mike’s old house. We used to have play dates there all the time. I don’t know if I could stand to go back there now.”

“y/n,” I began, and she looked up at me.

“This is an amazing opportunity for you. We can’t bring Mike back, but you could fulfill his legacy. How many people get the chance to work for Afton Robotics?” I didn’t know if I should have motivated her to quit working for me, but it’s probably for the best. 

“I guess that’s a good point. I’m just tired.” She snuggled closer to me and closed her eyes. 

Before we could both fall asleep, my phone began to ring. It was a number I didn’t recognize, but I still answered. I wish I hadn’t.

“Hello?” I mumbled into the phone. A very familiar voice answered me.

“Hey, lovely~” I knew exactly who this was.

“Oh, hey, Vincent. I didn’t know you got another phone call.”

“Well, I just wanted to check on my favorite person~”

After he said this, y/n looked like she was going to say something, but I stopped her by putting my hand over her mouth. She nodded understandingly and continued to lay on me.

“So how is prison?” I asked the most obvious question I could think of.

“It’s gotten better. It’s been a little lonely, though, without you visiting me~”

“Sorry, I’ve just been… busy…” I made up a lame excuse.

“Yeah. By the way, where are you? I called your house phone first but you didn’t pick up.”

“Oh- I’m- uhh-”

While I frantically stuttered, y/n rolled her eyes. I then made up another excuse.

“I’m at the grocery store.”

“That’s an awfully quiet grocery store you’re at.”

“Yeah- yeah, it is.”

“Well, how has y/n been holding up?”

“Holding… up?”

“Surely she must have heard by now. About Mike.”

y/n sighed and closed her eyes.

“She’s been getting better. The pizzeria is a lot different without him around…”

“I didn’t ask about the pizzeria, love. I asked about you and y/n.”

I looked back down at y/n, who just shook her head, still half asleep on my chest.

“Well- I- uhh-”

“You know, you should really go check on her if you haven’t already,” Vincent recommended. This could be my way out of this phone call.

“That’s a good idea- I’ll go do that now. Bye-”

“By the way, how are those cuts on your back doing, love?”

y/n sat up and leaned toward the phone.

“Fuck off.” She pressed the red button. I was speechless. She continued to stare at the phone while I stared at her. She cleared her throat and looked back at me.

“Sorry, I just couldn’t stand to listen to him anymore. He needs to leave us alone.”

“Okay-” I said. Time seemed to be frozen. The previous conversation was still echoing in my mind. He definitely knows I’ve been lying to him about y/n, and he’ll definitely try to do something about us if he ever gets out.

She stared into my eyes for a few seconds before gently tapping my cheek, bringing me back to real life.

“Is everything okay? You can talk to me. Tell me what I can do.”

“I’ve already told you. You don’t need to do anything.”

I held her hand and smiled, but she could see right through me. How could she do that?

“Please. I don’t want to lose you. At least, stop talking to him. He’s a horrible person.”

“I know, I know. I just can’t let him go. We’ve been friends for as long as I can remember.”

“I’ll take you up on your offer from earlier, then.”

“What?”

“Is it- do you still want me to move in with you?”

“Of course I do. Will you stop worrying about me?”

“Never.”

********************

A week later, she moved out of her apartment for good. There was one thing I wanted to take care of first, though.

I took a piece of paper and a pen from a drawer in my study. I sat in front of my desk and touched the coffee stains in the wood. 

What should I write to Vincent?

‘Hey,’ I started. No, it needs to be more formal than that.

‘To my friend-’ would he be offended if I friend zoned him even after we’ve both been dating different people? Probably.

Actually, I changed my mind.

‘To my friend, Vincent,’

Okay, good start, but now I actually have to address the fact that I don’t want to communicate with him anymore. This will be a long night.


	9. October

y/n had been working with Mr. Afton for a few weeks now, and, surprisingly, didn’t entirely hate her job. She’s told me about how cool her job is as a technician at Afton Robotics, and I’m glad I told Mr. Afton about her. Of course, she didn’t actually fit any of the qualifications to be an animatronic technician, but the job is apparently really easy.

She has also completely moved in with me, and living with her is still as nice as I remember. She’s also making a lot more money, too, and we’re thinking about saving for a vacation. My neighbors, since seeing y/n move in, have asked me if we were getting married, which I won’t fault them for because they’re mostly family friends. It has gotten kind of annoying, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot.

To strangers on the street, we look like a young couple. They see us in the store with my sons and think that she’s their mom. It makes a lot of sense.

She’s also been sleeping in the same bed with me.

We’re not a couple, though.

I mean, look at us. We’ve only kissed once, we haven’t been on a single romantic date, and we definitely have not, not even once, considered having a child together.

It would be absolutely insane to think we were a couple...right?

Speaking of insane, despite me specifically stating I didn’t want to hear from him ever again, Vincent wrote back to me. I won’t transcribe exactly what he said, as the letter was fairly long and there were a few words I couldn’t decipher through his handwriting, but I will summarize what he told me.

He first told me that he misses me and that, the second he escapes, he’ll come back for me. I hope the guards at the prison know about his escape plan, but I’m confident that they’ll catch him regardless of if he tries to escape or not. He then told me about his new friends, a detail he had left out of our final phone conversation. After that, he told me that he hopes I won’t be as gullible as he was when he went out with y/n, and that I’ll ‘never enjoy her like I enjoyed him,’ whatever that means. At the bottom was a pretty stereotypical letter ending.

I never told y/n that I heard back from him. All I told her was that I asked him, by letter, to never contact me again. 

I folded the letter he sent me and put it in my locked desk drawer. I kneeled on the floor, and pushed the key into the lock. When I opened the drawer, memories began flooding back. It contained a few stray pieces of faux leather, handcuffs, bullets, and a pistol. I slipped the paper underneath the gun as fast as I could before quickly closing and locking the drawer. I never want to open it again, but I always end up coming back. 

Good thing y/n is still at work so she can’t see me blankly staring at a closed desk drawer, blinking back tears. She tells me I’ll get over all of it. She tells me how strong and brave I am for enduring so much pain for so many years. I’m not sure if I believe her, though. I’d do anything to go back and fix whatever caused Vincent to change into who he is today. I’d do anything to empty this drawer. I got rid of a few pieces of rope a week ago. I want to go back and help him understand how he hurt me, but the damage has already been done. Out of the corner of my eye, I see that the collar of my shirt had fallen to the edge of my shoulder. There’s still a few spots of pink on my skin.

Why am I told that the scars on my shoulders and arms are beautiful when all I can see in them is pain?

My thoughts were interrupted by my phone notifying me that someone was at my front door. It was y/n. I covered my shoulders and cautiously walked downstairs.

“Hey!” She greeted me.

“Hi,” I replied, smiling.

“You’re still awake?” She asked. I looked at the time. It was nearly midnight.

“Yeah, I was just waiting for you,” I told her, shrugging.

“Aww, I love you.” She hugged me tightly, and I hugged her gently.

“I love you too.” 

When we let go, she had one more question to ask me.

“Did something happen while I was gone? You looked a bit shaken when I first got here.”

I couldn’t tell her I had heard back from Vincent. I couldn’t even tell her about the locked drawer. So, as I often do, I made up an excuse.

“I- just- someone asked about Vincent earlier. One of our neighbors asked why he wasn’t around anymore and, well, I didn’t know how to say he was found guilty of child murder…”

“I’m sorry you still have to hear about him. At least you’re not talking with him anymore, though.”

“Yeah…”

After that, she completely forgot about the question and we turned off the lights for the night, ending up in my - or our - room. After getting ready for bed, she started another conversation before turning off the table lamps.

“Are you comfortable in that? Because if you’d like to wear something else, I wouldn’t mind…”

I was wearing a long sleeved t-shirt with plain pajama pants. 

“I mean, it’s a little warm, but I’m fine.”

“Oh, that’s fine, too, I just know some guys who would prefer to wear...less… I was just making sure you were comfortable.”

“Oh- okay.” I said awkwardly before sliding underneath the blankets beside her. She switched off the lamp beside her and we were enveloped in darkness. I could, however, still see the outline of her face.

“You know, you don’t need to cover up all the time,” she whispered to me.

“I know you’re fine with them, but I’d rather not see them. Please leave this alone. I’ve been getting along like this for years. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over him.”

“Maybe you just need to accept and embrace them…”

She reached out and felt my chest through my shirt. I pushed her hand away.

“Look, I’m flattered that you like me that way, but that’s kind of creepy. I’m just not ready for that sort of thing.”

“Don’t you hear what people say about us? Everyone wants us to be together. Why can’t we just accept fate?”

“I’ve been blocking them out. From my experience, it’s best if we don’t get together in the first place. I love you, y/n, and I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

“Thanks, but if I were you, I’d be more concerned about myself. We’re getting better, but we still have some barriers to get past.”

“I guess I can’t argue with that. Goodnight.”

She sighed. We both hoped we weren’t angry at each other. We wouldn’t know how to deal with a conflict like this.

“Goodnight.”

********************

The next morning, she got out of bed about an hour before I did. By the time I got downstairs, she was plucking two pieces of toast out of the toaster.

“Good morning!” She greeted me after quickly turning toward me and leaning on the island.

“Morning,” I sighed, walking over to y/n as she shoved a piece of toast in her mouth. I didn’t really see her as a toast person, but I guess it’s a breakfast classic.

“So you have an early shift today?” I asked. I was hoping she could get home before eight o’clock at night for once so that we could finally spend some time together.

“Yeah, if I don’t have to stay late. There have been a lot of...technical issues lately.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I-”

In the middle of her response, she glanced at the clock over my shoulder.

“I’ll tell you tonight, okay? If I don’t leave now, I’ll be late! I’ll see you later! Love you!” She called to me as she was on her way out of the door. 

“Love you too!” I called back to her, but she was already gone. 

She arrived at work a few minutes late and pulled open the trapdoor, climbing into the elevator. When she got to the control room, she stopped in the doorway, out of breath. William Afton, noticing that she had arrived, turned around and handed her a small stack of papers.

“These,” he explained, “are the results from the tests you set up yesterday.” 

“Thank you,” she took the papers, skimming over each log. Most of them had failed.

“Most of your experiments failed, but I admire your creativity.”

“I’m sorry, sir, I just couldn’t get the remnant to stay inside of a robot. I’m not sure why.”

He took the papers back from her and set them on a table, one fluttering to the floor.

“Here,” he said confidently, leading her into a side room. In the center of the room sat a Freddy suit. It looked very worn, as the eye sockets were crusty and it was missing an ear. 

“This,” he stated, motioning to the suit, “is Fredbear. This,” he continued, holding a metal box up to her, “is my son.”

“Mike?!” She gasped.

“No, my other son. The one Vincent killed.” 

He said the last part sharply, as if he could carry out his revenge with his voice alone. 

“Oh.” She said softly, taking a single step away from Mr. Afton, who kneeled beside the empty suit.

“Come here. Watch this.” He ordered. She cautiously paced toward the soulless creature. Mr. Afton opened the animatronic suit to reveal a blood splattered interior. y/n tried her best to remain calm as he loosened the spring locks, allowing all of the sharp, rusty pieces of metal to join at the center of the suit. He carefully wedged the metal box between a few of the deadly spikes and flipped a switch on the side of the box, causing a small light beside the switch to flicker. He snapped the torso of the suit closed and stepped back. y/n followed. 

“What is it going to do-” she began to ask before he held up a finger and shushed her. 

“Just watch, y/n.”

She gazed at the empty suit as two tiny, white dots appeared in the empty eye sockets. The animatronic with no eyes seemed to be staring directly at her! Strangely, though, the suit itself didn’t move.

“What- what happened?” She asked softly, almost whispering.

“That, my dear, is how to bring a child back to life. Now, we need to get it to work for older souls. I’d like to start the experiments today if you don’t mind.”

She looked at her watch. It was noon. Surely she’d be home before sunset today, right?

“Sure, that’s fine with me!” She replied.

“Good. Go pick out a vessel from the back room. I don’t care which one you choose.”

“I’m on it.”

She strolled briskly to the closet at the back of the main auditorium. A gust of frigid air hit her face the moment she opened the door. Inside of the closet were dozens of miniature animatronics, all of them deactivated. She picked the one that was closest to the door and got the hell out of there. 

As she was walking back through the main performance hall, Circus Auditorium, she looked down at the robot she chose. It was a golden rabbit, similar to the full-size spring bonnie suit. It seemed to have a full endoskeleton, its eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.

She entered the workshop to find William Afton standing over a table that was sprinkled with various metal tools. When he noticed her enter the room, he looked up and smiled.

“Ah, that one’s one of my favorites,” he said, lifting the robot from y/n’s arms and laying it on the table. He handed y/n a smaller version of the metal box he had put inside of the golden bear earlier.

“How do I open it?” She asked, cautiously pacing toward the limp animatronic.

“You’ll need this. I’m confident that you’ll figure out how to use it,” he said, handing her an oddly shaped piece of metal. She instantly recognized it to be a springlock crank, as she had used one once or twice when she first began working at Afton Robotics.

She gently pried the torso of the suit from the endoskeleton, careful to not be pinched by any stray robotic parts. She, then, used the crank to rearrange the metal pieces inside so that the box would fit between them. She flipped the box’s switch and replaced the torso on the endoskeleton.

It did nothing. The robot laid still on the table, looking lifeless as ever. She had tried everything. She must have rearranged the wiring a million times before she got a reaction from the golden rabbit.

The animatronic’s eyes slowly began to change color as it sat up on its own. She also, for a brief second, thought she saw human teeth and bones inside of the creature’s mouth. She jumped backward when its head snapped in her direction.

“Perfect,” mumbled a voice behind her. She quickly spun around to see William Afton, holding another box in his, deeply scarred, hand. The top button of his shirt had been opened, too, showing off numerous scars on his collarbones and neck. She gasped and stepped back. The robot behind her pulled at the back of her shirt and she stumbled away from it, nearly falling into a bookshelf adorned with rusty, metal tools.

“This,” said Mr. Afton, pacing toward her, “will be your job next week. We still need to run more tests. I want this to work. Be here at six tomorrow morning. You’re free to go until then.”

He held the metal box closer to her, showing that it was labeled ‘Mike.’

Was he really going to try to bring his son back to life? He barely contacted Mike after high school, and most of the times he did were to ask for help in the shop. 

y/n was not, at all, opposed to bringing her friend back to life, but as an animatronic? It was strange to think that the soul of her childhood friend could be injected into such a vile vessel. 

It’s not like she could say no to Mr. Afton, though. She could lose her job if she did.

She jogged to her car and sped all the way home, getting home at about ten o’clock at night. After hanging her jacket in the closet, she skipped into the living room, surprised to find that I wasn’t there.

I was in the study, attempting to reply to Vincent’s most recent letter. I’ve asked him to not write back to me, but he’s persistent. I don’t want to get anyone involved, especially y/n, but I’ve gotten legitimately worried about his escape plan. I’ve kept every letter he’s sent me, but I don’t think I want to share his writings with the authorities.

I guess I’ll find out in a week if his plan works or not.

When I heard footsteps echoing through the halls, I crumpled my unfinished note and tossed it into the garbage can, getting up to leave the task for tomorrow. Maybe I just need to take a break from this. 

I quietly stepped out of the study to find y/n peering through the halls. When she saw me, she quickly approached me. She was ringing her hands together, occasionally glancing behind her.

“Hey, sorry I’m home late, I had to…” she stammered, trailing off at the end.

“No, you’re perfectly fine. How was work?” I asked, hoping she would tell me why she seemed so nervous.

“Oh, it was fine...it’s just- well- he’s trying to bring Mike back to life.” She explained softly. 

“Oh, he definitely knows we know what he has hidden inside of those suits…”

“I’m so scared. Will Mike be mad at me for putting his soul inside of a robot?”

“He shouldn’t have anything against you, right?”

“Unless he’s still bitter about our fight from a while ago, probably not.”

“See? You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“I guess. Is it too late to cuddle and watch Netflix?”

“No, but I have to go in early tomorrow for a birthday party.”

“Well I have to be at the shop by six tomorrow morning.”

“We have plenty of time,” I assured her as we walked down the stairs. 

We’re finally here. It seemed as if time was frozen. Nothing was changing anymore. The days all melted into each other, but that was fine.

I think about this all the time now.

Now that I’m not constantly getting calls from Vincent asking for different services, now that I’ve finally gotten to spend time alone, I can’t help but wonder what’s going to come next.


	10. November

The entire last week of October, I was overrun with anxiety.

I had been informed by Vincent that he and a group of prisoners had planned to escape sometime that week. I checked the local news at least once every few hours, I avoided the pizzeria like the plague unless I had to work, and I made no contact with William Afton or anyone else who knew him. 

I knew that the second Vincent escaped, he would hide at the pizzeria. The police would be searching my house and his old apartment enough that he could never be found in the back rooms of the restaurant.

At least the new location is finally in business, so if he tries to hide at the old location he won’t find any place to take cover. We still use the facility, mostly for storage, but I’ve only been there once and the place itself is barren. After we shut off the water and electricity, we noticed that the ceiling would leak whenever it rained. I guess it’s just an old building.

As the end of the week drew closer, y/n interrogated me more and more often about my growing fear of everything. I hadn’t told her about the escape plan, not wanting her to worry about me. She has her own life. I don’t want Vincent to invade her personal life, too.

In addition, I never wrote back to Vincent. I decided, late one night, that I was done with all of this. If he breaks out, he breaks out. If he wants revenge for me leaving him on read, I’m prepared.

The last day of the week was the worst. I didn’t have to go to the pizzeria that day, but I feared for everyone I scheduled to work that day. It was the first day of November.

y/n left for work silently that morning. I made sure to lock all of my doors and windows after I noticed she was gone. 

As she drove to the workshop, a single line from her previous night’s dream echoed in her head. 

“You can fix everything. You can restart everything,” she repeated the lines aloud in her car as she pulled into the driveway. She didn’t know what it meant, only that it was spoken alongside a red button. It was the switch that could allow her to redo her entire life, but how?

She paced from the elevator to the shop, arriving a few minutes late due to traffic.

“You’re late.” Mr. Afton’s voice echoed through the industrial room.

“I’m sorry, sir. It’s just been stressful lately,” she said so softly that it barely reached the metal walls of the room.

“Well,” he began, “are you ready to see your best friend again?”

******************

The figure chasing after them was ghastly. It seemed to want revenge on both of them, but I knew it probably only wanted William Afton. The vengeful spirit of Michael followed their car all the way from the outskirts of town to the old pizzeria. I guess he shouldn’t have put roller skates on that robot.

He parked his car near the doors and punched through the thin sheet of glass that was the entrance to the pizzeria. The glass shattered around him as he was chased inside of the old building. y/n, following behind him, tripped and fell behind the ancient prize counter. When she tried to stand back up, she noticed that Mr. Afton and the animatronic with Mike’s soul inside of it had left her behind. It’s not as if she could have ran anymore, though, as her foot had been pierced by a shard of glass.

She quickly pulled her phone from her pocket and decided to call me.

“Hey, y/n. Done already?”

“No, I need your help. I’m at the old restaurant-”

“Why are you at the old restaurant?”

“Please, just be here, we need your help.”

After she told me this, a scream could be heard through the line. The scream wasn’t y/n’s, though.

“I’ll- I’m on my way,” I stammered as I threw a coat over my shoulders and grabbed my keys.

When I got to the run-down pizzeria, the first thing I noticed was the shattered glass door. The second thing I noticed was y/n, hiding behind the counter. When she first noticed me, she used the shelves to stand. Her left leg and foot was covered in blood, as well as the floor beneath it.

“What- what happened?” I asked, rushing over to her.

“They went into one of the back rooms. I don’t know what went down after that, though. I haven’t seen either of them since then.”

“Who?”

“Mike and Mr. Afton,” she replied, leaning deeper into the shelves. I took her hands, as the shelves weren’t very strong.

“I'll go back there and see what’s going on. You wait here-” I told her, leading her to a lone table in the dining area.

“No, I want to go with you,” she responded, stumbling and falling back into my arms.

“But, what if-”

“I don’t want you to be hurt, either,” she insisted.

“Okay, okay. We’ll go to the safe room first. There’s still an empty suit in there, so that’s probably where Mr. Afton would go.”

We made our way to the safe room slowly, as she didn’t want to be carried, but still thought we would be safer if we stuck together. The cuts on her leg were superficial enough that she didn’t need much help to walk.

When we got to the safe room, the door was already open. A single stream of blood trickled from the dark room. I could, faintly, see two pairs of eyes sparkling in one of the far corners. I took out my phone and turned on the flashlight, slowly examining the rest of the room before getting to the glowing eyes. It wasn’t until I realized where the pairs of eyes were coming from that I instantly slammed the door closed. The image had already been ingrained into my mind.

Scattered across the floor were various animatronic parts, most of them seeming to belong to the empty head near the corner. Behind the head was the tattered Spring Bonnie suit, soaked in blood. The head of the suit was still twitching. William Afton was in there, and he was dead. 

“We need to seal up this room,” I said to y/n after locking the safe room door, leaving William Afton and Mike inside.

“I thought no one used this place anymore…”

“We still have people come out here, sometimes. We can’t let anyone find the dead body,” I explained, leading her to my car. 

“Wait- if Mr. Afton is dead, what does that mean for us? We don’t have jobs! How will we live?”

“I think- this place, it will survive even without William Afton.”

“Maybe you’ll be chosen to take it over…”

“Well, you were his assistant,” I replied. She nodded as we climbed into the car. The ride home was silent.

We arrived at home early in the afternoon. y/n, first, went upstairs to clean her wounds while I called Fritz to ask if he could get a team together to seal the old safe room. After I hung up the phone, y/n slowly walked down the stairs, her left leg now cleaned and bandaged. She wrapped her arms around me and I returned the hug. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon doing nothing in particular. We baked some bread, watered the flowers, and cleaned up the house amongst other things.

Later in the day, we woke up on the couch to find that it was midnight and that Netflix didn’t know if we were still watching or not.

y/n pulled the blanket back over us and shut her eyes as I closed Netflix, only to see an interesting headline on the local news station. 

The electricity in the county jail had been cut, and prisoners were escaping. Most were caught, but there were still a few that completely left the grounds.

“If you see any of these criminals roaming the streets,” the reporter insisted, “please report them to the appropriate authorities.”

I glanced from the headline to the mugshots on the side of the screen and sat straight up. y/n, not seeing the screen, sat up as well, yawning.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, watching me stare blankly into the TV. I turned back to her and held her hands tightly.

“There’s been a jailbreak.”

We spent the next few minutes preparing for what was to come. I locked all of the windows on the first floor of the house, and y/n called the police to tell them he was at the old pizzeria. It’s not like he’d go anywhere else, right? 

Both of my sons were at my mom’s house, so I knew they were safe. The only person left to worry about was whoever I scheduled for the night shift at the restaurant. They should be fine, though. They have doors.

Wait, no they don’t.

Well, if this new location is like the old one, there should be a taser in the security desk.

y/n hung up the phone and joined me in closing every single set of curtains in the house. 

“Okay, what else can we do?” I asked, pacing the floor.

“He’s not even going to come here. We’ll be fine. Come on, let’s get some rest. The fewer lights we have turned on, the less likely he is to show up,” she said, trying to persuade me to stop worrying.

“Okay, you’re right. He probably doesn’t want to see us after everything that’s happened, anyway.”

We got in bed, making sure to turn off every single light inside and outside of the house. She closed her eyes, breathing steadily beside me. I didn’t want to sleep. I couldn’t sleep, at least not with the knowledge that Vincent’s probably out to kill us. I ended up drifting off anyway, though, only to be reawakened by y/n about an hour later.

“Wake up, there’s someone in our house,” she whispered, gently shaking my shoulder.

“y/n,” I mumbled, still half asleep, “there’s no one in our house. Go back to sleep-”

We suddenly heard the sound of something metal coming from downstairs. Was that a toaster?

We both jumped out of bed and hurried down the stairs, hoping to catch whoever was using our toaster at two in the morning. 

We stopped at the entrance to the kitchen and slowly peeked inside, seeing only the outline of a tall man. It wasn’t until he turned around-

“Vincent?!” y/n shrieked, only to be shushed by the purple figure.

“Don’t want to wake up the whole neighborhood, do we?” He said, winking at me before turning back to pull the slices of toast from the toaster.

“How- how did you get in here? I locked the doors and windows,” I asked, trying to not make eye contact with him.

“Oh, but you never did lock the basement, did you, love?” he reminded me, leaving the plate of toast on the counter and approaching us. 

I’m not that short, but he still managed to loom over me. I stared up at him as he felt my neck and my shoulders, fingering the neckline of my shirt. y/n swatted his hands away from me.

“Get out,” she ordered, glaring daggers into his bloodshot eyes.

“Oh, don’t pretend like you haven’t done that, too~” he flirted, running his fingers through my hair. Her cheeks turned red as she glanced between me and Vincent. I took his hands from my hair and held them away from me.

“No, she’s right. You shouldn’t be here,” I told him softly, looking off to the side. 

“Well, I guess I thought you’d prepare for my visit. You know, with all those letters we wrote while I was in prison,” he mentioned, lifting my chin so I was forced to make eye contact.

I didn’t tell y/n about the letters. I didn’t think she’d want to know. Now that our lives are in danger, I wish I had. I guess there’s no going back now, though.

“What- what letters? I thought you only wrote one…” y/n asked, stepping back.

“Well, he asked me to not write back, but I couldn’t resist. I just couldn’t stop thinking about you two. It’s a shame you never got to read my notes,” he replied, gently stroking my cheek. My heart was beating faster than it ever had before. I began to see spots that weren’t there before. I felt like I was going to faint.

“You know what? I don’t want to read your notes. I want you to leave us alone,” y/n shouted, causing me to jump. Vincent caught me, wrapping his arms around me and rubbing my shoulder. I couldn’t do anything. My body was frozen and my throat felt swollen. I just wanted him to leave. I wanted both of them to leave.

“Actually,” he sneered back at her, “I think you should go. That is, unless you want to use your inside voice~”

He smirked at her before moving his hand to gently rub circles into my back. It didn’t hurt, but the scars on my back felt like they were burning. I didn’t move, though. He brushed my hair aside and kissed my forehead.

y/n stared at us in shock. If only she could see what was going on inside my mind. She didn’t understand why I wasn’t moving. She didn’t understand just how terrified I was.

“Vincent, if you- if you don’t leave now, I’m calling the police,” she threatened, still shouting at him out of habit. 

“Yeah, they’re surely going to believe you after you sent them to the old Freddy’s location,” he laughed calmly, holding me closer.

“Just- just let him go. Find somewhere else to hide and stop contacting us.”

“Oh, babe,” he ignored her, stroking my face and feeling my forehead. “Your face is ice cold. You look like you need some rest.”

I touched one trembling hand to my cheek, not feeling anything unusual. When I pulled my hand away, though, I saw that my fingertips were white. Vincent softly rubbed my chest. This couldn’t be real. The more I stared at my cold, pale hands, the spots began to take over my vision. The only figure I could make out was Vincent, standing over me and smiling. I heard footsteps surrounding me. I was completely numb. All I could feel was his hands caressing my chest and back as my world began to fade-

*****************

I woke up, alive and well, on the floor. I glanced at my watch. It was four in the morning. I slightly turned my arm before I noticed a red stain on my sleeve. I pulled back the fabric to see no open wounds on my arm, but soon noticed the blood dripping from my sleeve into a puddle on the ground. I quickly stood up, backing away from the pool of blood, when I noticed the limp body of Vincent sprawled across the floor beside me, a carving knife in his shoulder.

I stumbled backward until I ran into a wall. He’s dead. My childhood friend is dead! I wiped a tear from my face, accidentally smearing his blood across my cheek.

I stepped into the living room to find y/n sitting in front of the fireplace, desperately trying to ignite the log inside. On the floor beside her was a pair of blood stained gloves. She noticed me and stood to approach me, but I stepped away.

“How could you?” was all I could whisper as my eyes began to water again.

“How many times has he put the knife in your back? He shouldn’t have come here, but he’s obsessed with you. Couldn’t you see? You let him hold you, just as you always have. I tried to get him to leave us alone, but he wouldn’t leave you. Why would he leave you alone with me? I lied to him. I put him in jail,” she ranted, pacing the floor beside the burning fireplace. The bloodstains on her shirt sparkled, reflecting the flames.

“y/n, I never liked him the way he liked me, but I tried to keep our friendship intact. I called the police so that you wouldn’t be in danger. I wanted him to get better,” I told her as she tossed the incriminating gloves into the fire.

“I guess I just misunderstood. I thought you hated him, too.”

“I never hated him.”

“I- I don’t think I did, either…”

After she finished those words, she pulled her shirt over her head and threw it in the fire. I did the same. We both stared into the flames and watched the evidence melt away. y/n knew, somehow, that she would still be found out.

“If I could do anything,” she mumbled toward the lively flames, “I’d give everything to go back, to fix all of this…”

“We can’t.” I approached her and wrapped my arm around her shoulders as the flames began to die down, leaving only the ashy remains of her crime. “We’ve made our choices.”

She turned to hug me, and I gently returned the hug. We stared into each other’s eyes as the fire ceased, leaving only the rising sun to light up the room. She turned her head and abruptly let go of me.

“Was that- was that always there?” She asked.

On the edge of the coffee table sat a metal box with a large, red button on the top.

“No, I’ve never seen that before…” I replied as she kneeled in front of the mysterious switch, softly tracing her finger around the edge of the circular button.

“I think I know what this is, and we can go back,”

“y/n, time machines don’t exist.”

“This is no time machine… This is a restart button.”

She smiled, looking back at me, and held out her hand.

“We can fix everything. We can restart everything. Go back with me, and it will all be perfect,” she told me, but I was still skeptical. 

It’s not like the button would do anything, anyway.

I took her hand.

“I guess we’ll never know unless we try,” I responded as she placed the tips of her fingers at the center of the button, slowly pressing it into the box as-

**Author's Note:**

> 6/7/2020 EDIT: so I feel like, since there are some inconsistencies in this story rn, i’m gonna address those here and how i’m editing this plot and the whole au in general.  
> -Phone Guy/Scott no longer has two sons. This was a plot hole that i noticed while writing the prequel, and the story makes a lot more sense without the sons present.  
> -Vincent and Scott are never specifically in a relationship or not. I may go further into their dynamic in later edits. Vincent has, in fact, been sleeping around.  
> -William Afton and Vincent ARE different characters here. William is Vincent’s uncle.  
> -William Afton DOES know Scott, but opts to keep their relationship strictly professional despite his nephew dating Scott.  
> -William Afton also knows y/n, but holds a grudge against her due to her friendship with Michael/Mike.  
> -Mike Schmidt and Michael Afton are the same person. He is engaged to Doll, who is essentially the same Doll from Reb’s au but with some slight changes to make her fit my au better.  
> -i know y’all like making Scott taller than Vincent but he’s shorter in this au
> 
> -in case you’re wondering about Jeremy and Fritz, they’re both single and they’re roommates (oh my god they were roommates). Jeremy is a cashier and Fritz is an assistant cook and mechanic.  
> -there may be pieces of dayshift at freddys in here, but they’re subtle. orange guy (jack) is present in my au, but not important to this story specifically.
> 
> have any questions? drop a comment below and I’ll answer them the best I can! srry for the sad state of this fic rn, I’m working to make it as accurate to my current au as I can, which takes a lot of pulling it apart and putting it back together.


End file.
